iQOO Z9 Turbo launches as Redmi Turbo 3 rival with the same SoC and starting price

The iQOO Z9 Turbo has landed in China, and it rivals the recently launched Redmi Turbo 3 with the same SoC. To fill you in, Redmi’s latest release comes with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, a SoC designed to bring out affordable flagship phones. It’s basically a watered-down Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (Galaxy S24 curr. $724.99 on Amazon).

Redmi Turbo 3 was among the first phones to feature the chipset, and now, it’s being rivaled by the Z9 Turbo in the Chinese market. iQOO’s offering even has the same starting price, which is CNY 1,999 (about $276). But it does have the upper hand in some of the specs.

For example, the iQOO Z9 Turbo has a 6.78-inch screen with a 144 Hz refresh rate. To compare, the Redmi Turbo 3 sports a 6.67-inch display with 120 Hz refresh rate. iQOO’s latest phone also has a larger battery, featuring a 6000 mAh capacity. But the charging speed is a little low, coming in at 80 watts instead of 90 watts fast charging found in Redmi’s smartphone.

As for the other specs of the two smartphones, they are more or less the same. The newly launched Z9 Turbo has a dual camera setup on the back. It comprises the 50 MP Sony LYT-600 as the primary sensor and an 8 MP ultrawide. On the front, the phone features a 16 MP selfie shooter.

Worth noting that iQOO has paired the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 with a “dedicated graphics chipset.” The company says that this combination will deliver a smooth gameplay that will “exceed the native frame rate.” The Z9 Turbo also equips a large vapor chamber cooling that aims to deliver stable performance under load.

Other highlights of the iQOO Z9 Turbo include up to 16 GB of LPPDR5X and 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage, IP64 rating, and a slim and light build. The company hasn’t revealed details on global pricing and availability yet, but it does sell other phones in the international markets.