iQOO has today expanded the Z9 lineup in India by launching two ‘s’ models – the iQOO Z9s and the iQOO Z9s Pro. We were invited to a media briefing in Baku, Azerbaijan last month, where we got a chance to learn about the cameras of the Z9s Pro. But now that the smartphone has been officially launched, let’s see what it is all about.
The iQOO Z9s Pro comes in a black retail box with a protective case, a SIM ejector tool, a charging cable, and an 80W power adapter.
The iQOO Z9s Pro is built around a 6.77″ curved AMOLED display with a 2,392×1,080-pixel resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate and 4,500 nits of local peak brightness. It comes with HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG codecs and has Widevine L1 support for 1080p video streaming on compatible apps.
The Z9s Pro’s screen is protected by Shot ZenSense glass and supports wet touch technology. It can also display 1.07 billion colours and has a centred punch-hole for the 16MP selfie camera using Samsung’s S5K3P9SP04-FGX9 sensor.
There’s also an in-display fingerprint scanner, which worked well during our usage. However, it should have been placed a little higher for easier access.
Around the back, we have a squircle-shaped camera island that houses a circular flash and two functioning cameras – 50MP primary (Sony IMX882 with OIS) and 8MP ultrawide (OmniVision OV08D10-GA5A-001A, 120° FOV).
We got the Luxe Marble version which, as the name suggests, has a marble-like pattern on its back cover. It is made of plastic but has a glass-like feel to it.
The second model is Flamboyant Orange with a vegan leather back – a first for the Z series. Weighing 190 grams, it is 5 grams heavier than the Luxe Marble model but offers better grip. Still, both versions have an IP64 rating.
Talking about ports and controls, the iQOO Z9s Pro has a power button and volume rocker on its right side frame and USB-C at the bottom. It has a SIM card slot, primary microphone and speaker grille on both sides. There is a secondary mic on the top. The smartphone has stereo speakers but it does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. However, it has Hi-Res audio support for earphones.
iQOO Z9s Pro ports and controls
Under the hood, the iQOO Z9s Pro has a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It runs Android 14-based Funtouch OS 14 out of the box. iQOO has promised two years of Android version upgrades and three years of Android security updates, but hasn’t committed anything about the rollout frequency of the latter.
The whole package is powered by a 5,500 mAh battery with 80W charging support. iQOO says the bundled 80W adapter can charge the cell up to 50% in 21 minutes.
The iQOO Z9s Pro has a base price of INR 24,999 ($300/€270) and will be available in India starting August 23 via iQOO’s Indian website and Amazon.in.
