iQOO Z11 5G Review: Is the Segment’s Biggest Battery Worth ₹35,000?

The iQOO Z11 comes in a price range where every brand promises a big battery, bright display and fast performance. After spending time with the phone, running benchmarks and taking camera samples, here is what actually stands out.

This is a mid-premium phone, and the pricing reflects that. It is not a flagship killer.

The phone is built around three main promises: a display that is good for long viewing sessions, a battery that can easily last a full day, and an AI feature made mainly for students.

Design and Build: A Curved Look That Feels Familiar

The camera module at the back follows a design that has become common on recent phones. It has a horizontal capsule design placed inside a metallic frame. It will look familiar if you have seen phones in this segment recently.

The design stands out more because of the curved screen and curved back panel. This gives the phone a more premium feel in the hand despite its price.

The phone weighs under 200 grams and is 7.99mm thick.

Durability is one area where iQOO has gone a step further. The Z11 comes with IP68 and IP69 ratings, while many phones in this price range offer only IP64, which mainly protects against splashes.

IP68 means the phone is dust-tight and can handle being in water up to a metre. IP69 adds protection against high-pressure and high-temperature water jets, which is not very common at this price.

Display: A 1.5K AMOLED That Justifies the Curve

The 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED display is one of the better panels in this price range. It has a 144Hz refresh rate, can reach 2,000 nits in high brightness mode and supports HDR10+ for better contrast on supported streaming content.

The screen-to-body ratio is 93.82 percent, while the pixel density is 449 PPI. In simple terms, this means thin bezels and sharp text.

The combination of the AMOLED display and stereo speakers makes watching videos and other content a good experience. The large battery also works well with the display for longer viewing.

Performance: Dimensity 7500 Turbo in Daily Use

The main highlight is the MediaTek Dimensity 7500 Turbo, and the iQOO Z11 is the first phone in India to come with this chip. It is built on a 4nm process, which helps with both performance and power efficiency.

iQOO claims the chip can score over 1.2 million points on AnTuTu, a popular benchmark used to measure overall processing, graphics and memory performance.

In our real-world testing, the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant scored closer to 11 lakh on AnTuTu. That is still a strong score for this segment.

High-end games ran smoothly during testing. However, the phone feels better suited for content consumption and everyday multitasking than long competitive gaming sessions.

Cooling also gets a major upgrade. This is the first Z series phone with a vapor chamber. It is a sealed cooling system that spreads heat across a larger area using liquid that quickly changes between liquid and vapour.

iQOO says the new system offers nearly six times better thermal conductivity than the graphite sheet used in the previous generation. It covers a 3,800mm² cooling area.

The phone uses LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. This combination helps with faster app launches and smooth multitasking without taking the price into flagship territory.

Battery Life: Where the iQOO Z11 Pulls Ahead

With a 7,050mAh battery, the iQOO Z11 has one of the biggest batteries in this segment. It is fitted into a slim 7.99mm body without making the phone feel too bulky.

During testing, a full day included six hours of online classes, one hour of music streaming, two hours of Instagram and three hours of gaming. Even after all this, the phone still had 37 percent battery left.

This means most users should be able to get more than a day of use, especially on lighter days with calls, browsing and social media.

Charging is rated at 44W, while iQOO also offers a 5-year battery health promise designed to reduce battery capacity loss over time.

Camera: Real Samples, Real Verdict

At the back, the phone has a 50MP Sony IMX 882 primary camera along with an 8MP ultra-wide camera. This is the first time a Z series phone has included an ultra-wide camera.

For selfies, there is a 32MP front camera. Both the front and rear cameras can record 4K video at 30fps.

Daylight photos were in the above-average to excellent range for this price. Skin tones looked natural and were not overly saturated.

Colours remained consistent in different lighting conditions. Portrait mode also did a good job with edge detection across the 1x, 1.5x and 2x modes.

Low-light and night shots were also a pleasant surprise. The camera managed to retain good detail without adding the heavy noise that is common on budget and mid-range phones.

For a phone in this price range, the camera performance is better than expected and does not feel like an area where iQOO has cut corners.

Software and AI Captions: Built for Students

The Z11 runs Origin OS 6, with AI Captions being one of its main features. It is a live transcription tool designed mainly for students who record lectures or watch offline classes.

It can create a real-time transcript, supports 20 languages including Hindi, and also offers a one-click summary and the option to save the content to notes.

One big advantage is that there is no credit limit. Many competing AI transcription tools limit usage to around 120 to 300 minutes, while iQOO Captions offers unlimited use.

The new audio-to-caption system also reduces the delay to around 2 seconds. This is an improvement over the roughly 4.5 to 5-second delay on the previous generation.

There is some bloatware, but it is easy to manage. Unwanted apps and pre-installed games can be removed in a few taps.

Apart from Captions, Origin Island provides a live widget hub for quick access to ongoing activities. Office Kit allows phone-to-laptop mirroring and file transfers.

iQOO promises 3 years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates, which is longer than what many phones in this price range offer.

Connectivity and Extras

Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, dual nano SIM support and GPS. The phone is available in two colour options.

Aurora Green has a shifting monochrome liquid crystal finish that moves between green and blue. Celestial Blue has a more subtle midnight-sky-like finish.

iQOO also launched the iQOO Buds alongside the Z11 as part of the same ecosystem. They offer 50 hours of combined battery life and AI call noise reduction.

Gaming latency is rated at 42ms, while the buds support Bluetooth 6.1. They can also connect to two devices at the same time. Each earbud weighs just 3.8 grams.

iQOO Z11 Price in India and Where to Buy

The iQOO Z11 price in India is positioned below ₹40,000, with four memory configurations available.

You can check the current price and get the iQOO Z11 in Celestial Blue from its product page, or check the Aurora Green variant.

For more storage, you can check the higher RAM and storage configuration. You can also check the complete iQOO Z11 5G collection for all available colours and memory options.

Complete iQOO Z11 Specifications

Accessories to Pair With the iQOO Z11