iQOO Z9s Pro Long-Term Review: Best Mid-Range Smartphone?

After only a few years in the industry, iQOO has quickly become a major player thanks to its focus on performance at a reasonable price. Continuing this trend, iQOO recently launched the Z9s Pro, which packs the latest Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, along with a massive 5,500mAh battery and a 50MP primary camera—all for just Rs. 24,999.

While I could have published my review only after a couple of weeks of testing, I wanted to see what it’s like to live with the iQOO Z9s Pro. So, I swapped my SIM from the Xiaomi 14 and made the Z9s Pro my daily driver. Now, after nearly two months of use, here’s my in-depth review and whether this phone is worth your money.

iQOO Z9s Pro Review: Design & Hardware

As a sub-brand of vivo, iQOO knows how to design a pretty phone, and the Z9s Pro is no exception. The design is sleek, with smooth edges and a slim profile that’s easy to hold. What truly caught my attention, however, was the vegan leather finish. Not only did it save me from worrying about accidental drops, but it also gave the Z9s Pro a touch of class.

I was constantly asked what device I was carrying, which is something not even flagships have managed to do. So, if you like your tech to make a style statement, the Z9s Pro would feel right at home.

Moving to the sides, they are made of plastic. And while they do a solid job of protecting the phone from bumps, they are prone to scratches over time. On the bright side, the buttons are well-placed and have a satisfying tactile feel.

iQOO Z9s Pro Review: Display

The iQOO Z9s Pro features a 6.67-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, and it is gorgeous. The colors pop, and the blacks are inky-deep, making it perfect for watching movies and TV shows. The display also supports HDR 10+ content, immersing me in my favorite shows. The phone also comes with a Visual Enhancement feature that enhances the colors and contrast when watching YouTube videos or shows on Netflix.

However, the best part of the display is the brightness. iQOO claims the Z9s Pro has 4500 nits of peak brightness in HDR content, and it shows. In direct sunlight, I measured the outdoor brightness at 1800 nits, which is more than enough for any scenario.

Finally, regarding refresh rate, iQOO has done a great job of optimizing third-party apps to run at 90Hz or 120Hz, which makes using the device much better than other offerings on the market.

The Z9s Pro’s display is protected by Scott Xensation Glass, which held up well in my testing. Despite being carried around without a case, the screen only developed a few minor scratches. The device is also IP64 dust—and splash-resistant.

iQOO Z9s Pro Review: Performance

Performance has always been iQOO’s forte, and the same is true for the Z9s Pro, which houses the new Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip. The processor includes one Cortex-A715 Prime core at 2.6GHz, three Cortex-A715 Gold cores at 2.4GHz, and four Cortex-A510 Silver cores at 1.8GHz, along with an Adreno 720 GPU. In addition, my unit came with 12 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage.

Keeping the specs aside, the phone is really fast for everyday tasks. I have tried using multiple apps at once, opened multiple Chrome tabs, and scrolled mindlessly on Instagram, and not once did I encounter any stutter or lag.

I also tested the maximum performance of the Z9s Pro by running some benchmarks. In Geekbench, the Z9s Pro scored 1140 in single-core and 3103 in multi-core tests. In AnTuTu, it achieved an impressive 805104 points. Finally, in the infamous 30-minute 30-thread stress test, the device only throttled to 94% of its peak performance, meaning iQOO has implemented ample cooling measures.

Moving to gaming, I spent quite a bit of time playing CODM and BGMI on high settings on this phone. After a one-hour session, not only did the performance hold up, but the device barely heated up, thanks to the liquid cooling system.

Battery Life & Charging

The iQOO Z9s Pro has a massive 5500mAh battery, and it didn’t disappoint. The phone easily lasted an entire day of moderate to heavy use, including gaming, taking photos, and watching YouTube videos. On days when I wasn’t glued to my phone, I could even stretch the battery life into the second day without needing to recharge.

The phone comes with an 80W fast charger in the box, which helped me recharge the phone from 20% to 80% in just under 30 minutes.

iQOO Z9s Pro Review: Cameras

Considering the phone focuses on performance, you might assume iQOO must have cut some corners in the camera department. Well, this is not the case. The phone is equipped with a 50MP Sony IMX882 OIS primary camera sensor, along with an 8MP ultra-wide lens with a 120-degree field of view.

Daytime shots

The primary sensor captures great detail with punchy colors in good lighting. I took it for a spin at the park, and the shots were vibrant without being oversaturated. The phone also handled HDR scenarios fairly well, managing dark and bright spots to create an aesthetically pleasing shot.

Since the phone lacks a zoom camera, the primary lens doubles as the portrait lens, and the results were pretty solid. In ample lighting, the portrait shots were detailed, with a natural-looking depth of field and accurate edge detection. However, the quality dipped noticeably in low light, and there was visible grain in the images.

UltraWide shots

The 8MP UltraWide lens performs exactly as you might expect. The shots are decent in daylight conditions. However, the quality worsens at night, with noticeable grain and a lack of detail.

Nighttime shots

The low-light performance of the primary sensor was actually pretty good. With the night mode turned on, I was able to capture detailed photos even in dimly lit environments. However, it is important to note that every shot had a bit of noise and lens flair. Still, for the price, the overall quality is impressive.

Selfies & Videos

The 16MP selfie camera performed well during my testing, easily handling various lighting conditions. Like many other phones, it tends to soften faces with its default beautification filters, but fortunately, you can disable these filters for a more natural look.

Moving on to video, the iQOO Z9s Pro can capture up to 4K @ 30fps video, and the results were solid in daylight. The footage was stable and had great details and colors.

iQOO Z9s Pro Review: Software

The iQOO Z9s Pro runs on Android 14 with vivo’s FunTouch OS 14 on top. While the software is clean and intuitive, it comes with a lot of bloatware, including the infamous Hot Apps and Hot Games folder and apps such as Snapchat, Amazon, and PhonePe. Fortunately, you can uninstall most of them.

Regarding the experience, I quite like FunTouch OS, thanks to its sheer customizability. You can change almost everything about the software, from the fingerprint animations to the entire theme.

Furthermore, in keeping with industry trends, the phone also includes several AI features, including the AI object eraser and the image enhancer, both of which I tested. The object eraser effectively removed background distractions from photos, while the image enhancer brought out more detail in older images.

Should you buy the iQOO Z9s Pro?

At Rs. 24,999, the iQOO Z9s Pro is a solid option if you want a phone with a premium design, solid performance, a great display, and good cameras. The phone gets a solid thumbs up from me and is an excellent value under the 25K segment. You can check out the iQOO Z9s Pro on Amazon, Flipkart, and iQOO’s official website.