iQOO Z11 launched in China with a 9020mAh battery, Dimensity 8500, and 165Hz AMOLED

iQOO has officially launched the Z11 in China, alongside the Z11x, which debuted earlier in India (covered elsewhere). While the Z11x can wait, the Z11 is the more interesting phone, and boasts a spec combination that has few rivals in its price range. Let’s dive in to see what makes it stand out.

iQOO Z11 Overview

Design 

I’ll start with the design. It has a similar finish to the Z11 Turbo, which launched a while back. But unlike the Z11’s camera module with its owl-like lens positioning, the Z11 relaxes it a bit. On the build side, it’s pretty thick by today’s standards; most phones now are under 8mm, and it has some heft, but we’ll see why soon.

The front is glass, while the back and frame are plastic. The phone also comes with dual IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance. For colors, you get Black, White, and Blue. There’s also an in-display optical fingerprint scanner.

Display

Now, coming to the display, they have surprisingly placed a 165Hz refresh rate on this guy. When most phones are already doing excellent with the 120Hz, 165Hz makes it even smoother for scrolling, but worth noting that not that many people are going to notice it.  Beyond that, the 6.83-inch AMOLED panel, combined with 2160Hz PWM dimming and a 5,000-nit peak brightness ceiling, makes this one strong display package by any standard. Similarly, the device also has FHD+ resolution at 450 ppi, and with HDR support, the output comes with excellent clarity and crispness. In contrast, if you look at the iQOO Z11 Turbo, which sits above this phone, it uses a 6.59-inch AMOLED at 144Hz. The Z11 actually has the higher refresh rate, which is, in fact, quite counterintuitive if you are comparing these two. 

Performance

The iQOO Z11 is powered by the Dimensity 8500, a 4nm chip from MediaTek with an octa-core configuration. For starters, it scored around 2.3 to 2.6 million in AnTuTu tests, putting it above the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chips, which are more common in this segment and typically found in upper mid-range phones from late 2024.

iQOO pairs this with what they call the Monster Over-Core gaming engine, their software tuning layer for extra performance. The gaming experience on this phone is pretty strong. For instance, games like PUBG and Genshin run at high frame rate settings without throttling most of the time. Anyway, It is paired with memory options from 8GB to 16GB, and storage goes up to 512GB UFS.

Camera

The camera setup isn’t very impressive. On the back, there’s a dual-camera system: a 50MP main sensor at f/1.8 with OIS and a 1/1.95-inch sensor size, paired with a 2MP depth sensor for portraits. There’s no ultra-wide camera, which is a disappointment, but it also makes sense for this kind of phone as gaming phones often sacrifice cameras for performance. Up front, there’s a 16MP selfie camera. The rear camera can record 4K video, using both OIS and gyro-EIS for stabilization.

Also, read

• iQOO 15R Launched in India with Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and 7600mAh Battery
• iQOO 15 Ultra launched with Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC and gaming features

• iQOO Neo 11 launched in China with 2K 144Hz display, Snapdragon 8 Elite

Battery and Charging

The best thing about this phone is its battery. iQOO has packed a massive 9,020mAh silicon-carbon battery with 90W wired SuperFlash charging, plus support for 55W PD, 44W UFCS, and reverse wired charging. iQOO claims up to 28 hours of video playback. At 90W, the device should fully charge in roughly 30 to 40 minutes.

In contrast, look at Samsung’s smartphones like the A37 and A57, which launched just the day before yesterday—they still come with a mere 5,000mAh battery. The difference is astonishing.

iQOO Z11 Specifications

• Design, build: 163.7 x 76.1 x 8.3mm, 216.5g, glass front, plastic back and frame, IP68 + IP69; Black / White / Blue
• Display: 6.83-inch AMOLED, FHD+ (1260x2800), 165Hz, 5000 nits peak, 2000 nits HBM, 2160Hz PWM, HDR
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 8500, 4nm, Mali-G720 MC8 GPU
• Memory: 8GB / 12GB / 16GB RAM + up to 8GB virtual; 256GB / 512GB UFS
• Software & UI: Android 16, Funtouch OS 16
• Rear Camera: 50MP f/1.8 OIS (1/1.95") + 2MP depth; 4K video with gyro-EIS + OIS
• Front Camera: 16MP f/2.5; 1080p@30fps
• Security: In-display optical fingerprint scanner, face unlock
• Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi 6 dual-band, Bluetooth 5.4 (aptX HD), NFC, GPS L1+L5, NavIC, USB-C 2.0 OTG
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass
• Battery: 9,020mAh silicon-carbon, 90W wired, 55W PD, reverse wired charging

iQOO Z11 Price in Nepal and Availability

The iQOO Z11 is now available in China, starting at CNY 1,999. It is not expected to arrive in Nepal anytime soon, but if it did, the base variant would likely cost around NPR 52,999.

• Meanwhile, check out our review of the iQOO 15