iQOO 16 vs iQOO 15: 5 Biggest changes you can expect in India

iQOO India CEO Nipun Marya came to the Digit office with the iQOO 16 in hand, sat down for a podcast and showed us the phone. iQOO has confirmed the India launch, but there is no date and no price, so we are working with the China launch, what Marya has said on record and what we saw in the office. The iQOO 15 launched in India on 26th November 2025, so its successor is arriving roughly a year later. The obvious question is what iQOO actually changed. We compared both spec sheets and sorted the answer into five departments: display, cameras, battery, processor and design. So here are the five biggest changes you can expect in iQOO 16.

1. Displaby: 144Hz becomes 165Hz on a new Samsung panel

The iQOO 15 has a 6.85-inch 2K Samsung M14 LEAD OLED display that runs at 144Hz, reaches 2,600 nits in high brightness mode and 6,000 nits at peak. The iQOO 16 moves to Samsung’s M16 panel, which Marya confirmed on the podcast, calling it the most advanced display possible in a smartphone right now. iQOO has not shared the India display specs yet.

The China model keeps the 6.85-inch size and 2K resolution, and raises the refresh rate to 165Hz, high brightness mode to 2,800 nits, local peak brightness to 10,000 nits and PWM dimming from 2,160Hz to 3,300Hz. The India model could differ on those numbers.

2. Cameras: same 50MP count, bigger main sensor

Marya confirmed a 50MP, 50MP and 50MP setup at the back for the iQOO 16, with top-tier sensors and Vivo colour science tuning. The iQOO 15 has the same three 50MP cameras, so the difference shows up in the main sensor. On the iQOO 15 it is a 1/1.49-inch Sony IMX921 with an f/1.88 aperture and OIS. On the China iQOO 16 it is a 1/1.3-inch OV50Q with an f/1.68 aperture, OIS and a CIPA 5.5 stabilisation rating.

A larger sensor with a wider aperture takes in more light, which fits what Marya said the focus is: low llight and high-action scenes. He expects portraits to be good as well, since they are a big use case. The ultrawide stays at 50MP, the telephoto stays a 50MP Sony IMX882 with 3x optical zoom, and the front camera stays at 32MP. Marya said more camera details will come in the following weeks.

3. Battery: 7,000mAh grows to 8,400mAh

In terms of battery, he didn’t reveal anything on the podcast, so these numbers are from the China launch. The iQOO 15 has a 7,000mAh battery, and the iQOO 16 has 8,400mAh, which is 1,400mAh more. Charging does not change, with 100W wired and 40W wireless on both phones, so the bigger battery should take longer to fill.

The iQOO 16 also lists Bypass Charging 2.0, which feeds power straight to the phone during supported use while plugged in. iQOO has not confirmed the India battery capacity, so treat 8,400mAh as the China figure until the India spec page goes up.

4. Processor: From Elite Gen 5 to Elite Extreme Gen 6

The iQOO 15 runs the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on a 3nm process, with iQOO’s Q3 gaming chip and an 8,000mm² vapour chamber. The iQOO 16 uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which Marya called the world’s fastest CPU. iQOO is launching only the Extreme version. The China model adds a 2nm process, clock speeds up to 5GHz, a new Q4 gaming chip and an 8,500mm² vapour chamber. The Q3 chip interpolates frames up to 144fps and the Q4 goes up to 165fps, which lines up with the China display.

Software changes too. OriginOS 6 was iQOO’s first OriginOS release in India, launched last year after user feedback, and Marya says that feedback has gone into OriginOS 7. Customisation was the biggest learning, and he says personalisation is much better on OriginOS 7 than on OriginOS 6. The CPU claim is iQOO’s, and benchmark and throttling results will have to back it.

5. Design: a new camera module, and a familiar lens layout

The iQOO 15 uses a squircle camera island and comes in Alpha, a matte black finish, and Legend, a white finish. The iQOO 16 gets a new camera module, with three lenses in a triangular layout, and iQOO’s China description says it is inspired by a spacecraft porthole. Marya describes the India design as simple and sophisticated at one angle, with streaks of light and colour appearing as you change the angle. He said it should not be plain, and that the character comes through along with the new camera module. India gets two colours, one with those light streaks and one that is much more subtle. Both phones carry IP68 and IP69 ratings.

We saw the iQOO 16 at the Digit office when Marya showed it for the podcast, and the design looks decent. The part that reminds us of an iPhone is the lens layout, three lenses in a triangle, the same arrangement Apple uses on its Pro iPhones. The light streaks and the porthole styling are where it stops looking like one.

iQOO has not announced an India launch date or a price. Marya said iQOO is making some last-minute adjustments before it reveals the date, and that prices across the industry are higher because of memory costs, with no cooling expected soon. He also said the iQOO 16 is the most complete flagship iQOO has made, with performance still at the core and more attention on the camera and design. You can watch the full podcast with Nipun Marya here: