iQOO Z6 Lite Review: Performance that beats all the competition

iQOO has recently taken the industry by storm with the continuous launch of smartphones in different segments including budget, mid-range, and flagship. The latest flagship offering the by the brand was iQOO 9T which shipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor. However, the brand has now taken a step forward in the budget range with the launch of iQOO Z6 Lite. The device is being dubbed the first smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 processor. The device purely justifies its association with the budget segment by the price point.

The device has a 5G-ready processor along with high-capacity RAM and a decent amount of memory. No doubt the device is all set to give a tough time to other budget smartphones including Poco, Redmi, and Realme. I got to review the iQOO Z6 Lite a week ago and the device has been testing it out on various parameters to assess its performance. Here in this iQOO Z6 Lite review, I have mentioned all the upsides and downsides of the iQOO’s latest budget phone.

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Unboxing

The iQOO Z6 Lite comes in a black coloured box with the iQOO branding at the front and manufacturer information at the back of the box. The box consists of:

• iQOO Z6 Lite
• USB Cable
• Eject tool
• Warranty card
• Quick start guide
• Phone case

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Design

In terms of design, the iQOO has not offered anything amazing which will make you go mad over the design. I got to review the Stellar Green variant which has a shiny finish. The rectangular camera island is placed at the top left corner of the panel including two circular modules consisting of three sensors.

Apart from that, the camera island also has a flash and AI CAM Aspherical written next to it. The iQOO logo can be spotted at the bottom of the smartphone. The smartphone’s rear panel has purple and blue colour shades when kept in sunlight. When exposed to sunlight, the colour changes to greener and yellower hues.

Talking about the front the smartphone has thin bezels and a slightly thicker chin. The brand has offered a waterdrop notch for the placement of the front camera. The SIM Tray of the smartphone is adjusted at the upper side and the 3.5mm jack, speaker grille, and USB Type-C port are placed at the bottom. The power button, doubled up as the fingerprint scanner, along with volume rockers is placed at the right spine of the device.

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Display

The smartphone ships with a 6.58-inch LCD display complemented with a 120Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution. The device even offers a touch sampling rate fo around 240Hz which is not available in its price segment. One of the most amazing parts about the device is that it can be used easily under direct sunlight without any extra effort. The colour tone of the display is cool in nature. However, you can still adjust the screen temperature by visiting the display settings.

The high refresh rate of the smartphone offers you a smooth scrolling experience while using social media applications and other stuff on the device. The smartphone didn’t have Netflix on the Google Play Store which seemed like the result of my device being a pre-production unit. The smartphone also has the Widevine L1 certification supporting full HD playback. As for the speaker, it was working fine in the case of running YouTube videos along with decent audio output while playing songs on Spotify.

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Performance

The iQOO Z6 Lite works on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 processor paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Not only this, but the device also has 2GB of virtual RAM which provides more support to boost its performance. Now, from a budget smartphone available at a price below Rs 15,000 anything that is more than average in terms of performance can be dubbed as amazing. Same is the case with the iQOO Z6 Lite as it allows you to multitask without any issues.

Moreover, I opened around 10 tabs on Google Chrome in a single go, and to my surprise, the device was able to handle it all. However, if you run heavy games on the smartphone then you are going to be disappointed. I started with installing Content of Champions on the smartphone, downloading a little lighter game as compared to COD Mobile, Asphalt Legends, etc.

The game was getting a little bit stuck between the high graphics setting and in mid graphics setting, and the device got heated up. However, to tackle the heating of the smartphone, iQOO has offered a dedicated cooling system which is rare considering the price point of the same.

Talking about the FuntouchOS, it comes with loads of bloatware which seriously is a spoilsport. The cherry on the cake, the notifications by the browser make the experience more irritating. Most of the lag I found in the device was because of the multiple applications that the users don’t even need in their day-to-day life.

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Camera

The iQOO Z6 Lite rocks a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 50MP primary shooter and a 2MP macro shooter. I can say that the main camera of the device seems pretty able to deliver decent-quality photographs, but the reality is quite different. The photographs were quite out of focus which is disheartening. I tried my keep my hands as a table as possible but still was unable to click a single picture without a little blur.

At the time of daylight, the device was able to click sharper imageswhich was a relief for me. Moreover, the camera system of the device offers nice quality photographs as compared to other alternatives in the same price range. Nonetheless, the HDR mode of the smartphone was not up to the mark. One thing to mention here is that the Super Night mode is only available for the 6GB variant and not for others. The photos clicked by the Super Night mode were also of average quality.

On the front, the handset has an 8MP primary shooter that helps in capturing selfies and also works as an aid for attending video calls. The front camera of the smartphone still manages to offer decent clicks in broad daylight. However, the skin tone in these selfies became slightly brighter.

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Battery

The iQOO Z6 Lite draws power from a 5000mAh battery along with 18W fast charging support. A major turnoff related to the smartphone is that it doesn’t ship with a charging brick. It clearly means that you need to buy the brick separately, god bless the audience that they at least got charging cables.

The handset takes a lot of time in getting gully fueled up and it is obvious considering the charging capacity. The smartphone took almost two hours in getting completely charged from zero to a hundred per cent. As for the battery drainage, it loses around 10% battery in an hour while running heavy games. On the other hand, the battery drops at a pace of 6% to 8% while watching videos on OTT platforms or YouTube. At the time of testing, the smartphone lasted for around 16 hours at extensive usage and for around 28 hours at moderate usage.

iQOO Z6 Lite review: Should you buy it or not?

The iQOO Z6 Lite is available in the market for a starting price of Rs 13,999. Keeping the price point in mind, the handset seems quite attractive and as per my expectation, it will easily grab the attention of the audience. The smartphone has a classy design, though I didn’t like the camera island. The Snapdragon chipset works as another star to the shoulder of the handset. In addition, the device is also future-ready as it comes with support for a 5G network.

Nevertheless, if you are looking for a smartphone that has high-quality camera settings and is a gaming suitable phone, then, honestly, you can’t get a device like that on a budget of around Rs 15,000. You can go for the smartphone if you are looking for something with decent performance and a durable battery.