Vivos SubBrand IQOO Has Put Out The Best Value Phone Of 2023
Chinese mobile phone brands love to highlight sub-brands. Xiaomi has two, POCO and Redmi; Oppo has OnePlus and Realme; Huawei owned Honor before selling the brand; and Vivo has iQOO, which stands for I Quest On and On.
It's no surprise that phones from sub-brands are almost always inferior to devices from mainstream brands. After all, the sub-brand is the little brother.
Apparently, iQOO didn't get the memo. In the past, its launches have come close to undercutting the sales of its older sister products, and that may finally happen this month. The iQOO 12 is a roughly $650 phone with high-end specs, including using higher-quality silicon (the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), even compared to the upcoming Vivo X100 Pro flagship (the phone uses the last chip). which is from Mediatek). which is not a reputable chip maker like Qualcomm). The iQOO 12 also features a 144Hz refresh rate display, compared to 120Hz on the Vivo flagship. This is very unusual in the mobile world. I don't remember Redmi phones having better processors than conventional Xiaomi phones, for example.
I've used both phones and while the Vivo X100 Pro has a complicated zoom system, the iQOO 12 is the more cost-effective option for most people. In fact, at $650, the iQOO 12 is the best value phone in my opinion (the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip won't debut in the US until January in Samsung's $5+ Galaxy S series). 900, for example).
I spoke briefly with Torres Zhu, iQOO's overseas marketing manager, about the brand's strategy. Zhu, who joined Vivo in 2015, successfully helped Vivo launch the company in India, a major growth market for the mobile brand due to its large population and growing middle class. In 2022, he joined iQOO and was tasked with doing the same.
The Indian mobile market is highly competitive and the consumer base values brand recognition and value. IQOO can offer the latter, but the former needs improvement.
"One of the things I learned when Vivo launched in Southeast Asia is that consumers in this region really like mobile games, which is why iQOO phones are starting to prioritize games," Zhu said.
Including the use of Qualcomm's latest processor, the iQOO 12, the first cell phone launched outside of China to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, as well as including a cell phone with a large battery.
Additionally, the iQOO 12 uses a new “supercomputer chip” called Q1. Tuned by iQOO, this chip essentially uses interpolation to boost the frame rate, running games locked at 60 or 120 frames per second (fps) up to 144 fps on the iQOO 12. Graphics in popular games like PUBG. For example, the iQOO 12 feels smoother than competing phones.
To address the branding issue, iQOO has partnered with BMW M to launch the “Legend” variant of the iQOO device. Although it seems like it is nothing more than the placement of the BMW M logo and the color scheme on the back of the mobile phone, it adds an important brand in the Southeast Asian market.
Although iQOO has not released its market share figures, Vivo as a whole (including iQOO) is currently the second largest mobile phone brand in India with a market share of 18% compared to Samsung's 20%. Zhou said iQOO was rated "number one in customer satisfaction by 91Mobile."
I usually do these surveys, but I've used the iQOO 12 myself and can say that it's absolutely one of the best performing phones of the year, and it's a $650 phone, not a $1,100 one.
