After years of delivering ‘Neo’ branded phones as the flagship killers, iQOO has changed its strategy in 2026 with the iQOO 15R – an R badge for the flagship model range. Just like how the OnePlus 15R plays Robin to the Batman that the OnePlus 15 is. The formula is the same, too – last year’s flagship chip performance in an underwhelming midrange package. You get a massive battery, a nice display, decent cameras and a feature-rich software experience. The price for this value-centric phone? Rs 44,999, if you consider the base model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
On paper, the iQOO 15R seems like a boring choice. But boring isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering how pricey the ‘interesting phones’ have gotten in the past few months. With phone prices only forecasted to go up, the iQOO 15R carves a nice place for itself in the upper reaches of the midrange space, targeting those who need the basics just right.
iQOO 15R: What does it offer for you?
Design-wise, the iQOO 15R feels balanced and modest at 6.59 inches, with even weight distribution that avoids top- or bottom-heaviness. Although the ‘Triumph Silver’ colourway seems tacky, the black colourway is sort of stealthy, attracting no attention whatsoever. The camera lens decoration is reminiscent of the iQOO 15 but lacks any sort of LED light show. While the materials don’t seem ‘premium’ to touch, iQOO offers IP69 certification for dust and water resistance, which assures peace of mind for the challenges Indian weather conditions throw at a phone.
The standout element is the 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and LTPS tech. It offers slim and uniform bezels, with vibrant colours and strong contrast, with the high refresh ensuring fluid scrolling and adequate brightness levels under the Sun. For most users, there should be no concerns with the display quality.
iQOO prioritises performance and hence, the 15R gets the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, coupled with LPDDR5X Ultra RAM, and UFS 4.1 storage. Similar to the OnePlus 15R in this category, the iQOO 15R has no concerns as far as gaming is concerned. Titles like BGMI and COD: Mobile run smoothly at 144fps, although with low to medium graphics settings. Genshin Impact holds steady at 60fps without showing any signs of trouble.
When not gaming, the iQOO 15R’s haptics are tight and precise. Vivo’s OriginOS 6 (based on Android 16) brings smooth animations, quick app launches, and useful AI tools like Circle to Search, AI summarisation, eraser, and photo enhancements. As observed on previously launched 2026 Vivo phones, OriginOS 6 offers a refined and well-tuned user experience. The bloatware situation exists, and you can delete most of the third-party apps, but Vivo’s apps don’t match up to the quality and experience you witness from the Google suite. Also, the lockscreen magazine ‘advertisement’ carousel is outright irritating and needs to be banned from all Android phones – it is outright annoying.
Will shutterbugs be happy with the camera system and the battery?
The iQOO 15R’s camera setup includes a 50MP Sony LYT-700 main sensor with OIS and an 8MP ultrawide secondary sensor. The camera setup works well with daylight photography, offering balanced colours, strong HDR, and usable 2x digital zoom. Thanks to the clever HDR and exposure management, it handles backlit scenes well. Night photography is decent but don’t expect Vivo X300-levels of imaging performance – it loses on colour accuracy, and details go slightly softer. The ultra-wide shooter lags with lower detail and colour shifts, making it average at best. The 32MP selfie camera performs equally good as the main camera.
To keep power users happy, the iQOO 15R has a massive 7,600mAh cell. Hence, it isn’t surprising to see the phone easily last two full days of moderate-to-heavy use (streaming, social media, calls, gaming), often ending day two with approximately 20-25% without a recharge. With the 100W fast charging provided within the box, the massive power reserve fills up in less than an hour from dead.
iQOO 15R verdict: Buy this or get the OnePlus 15R?
The iQOO 15R and OnePlus 15R are essentially slightly different flavours of the same core formula – a midrange phone with an incredibly powerful processor under the hood. Phones like these are ideal for youngsters who prefer to spend most of the day on their phones, without giving up on processing power and battery life. These are also great picks for users who prefer future-proofing their phones, where having extra of the basics guarantees peace-of-mind – surplus battery, surplus performance, surplus value. These phones don’t care about AI gimmicks, or advanced cameras, or a special user experience – you get a simple phone that runs fast.
Between these two, the iQOO 15R emerges as the more accessible model owing to its lower starting price of Rs 44,999 – note that you get 8GB RAM only. You also get a compact display and a slightly larger battery, with faster charging. As soon as you consider the 12GB RAM variant, the price advantage disappears – both 15Rs cost the same – it’s eenie meenie miney mo!