iQOO U5 goes official with Snapdragon 695 & 50MP camera

The price starts at ¥1299 or around $200

Release Date
December 24, 2021
Starting Price
¥1299 ($204)

iQOO launched a budget phone in China today named the iQOO U5, and it is the successor to the iQOO U3 that launched a year ago with a Dimensity 800U 5G SOC. The price starts at ¥1299, which translates to around $200, and for the price, this phone is offering the Snapdragon 695 SOC, a 50 Megapixel camera, and a 5,000mAh battery.

iQOO U5

Design-wise, the phone has squared-off sides, so it does look premium, at least in the official renders. Now, the phone has a polycarbonate build, so even though it seems like the back is made of glass and the frame is metallic, that’s not the case. There is a dual-camera module on the rear, a side-facing fingerprint scanner, and a display with a waterdrop notch on the front.

iQOO U5

There is a USB Type-C port on the bottom, along with the headphone jack and the speaker grill. The display on the front is a 6.58-inch LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate and a Full-HD+ resolution. It is a shame that 2022 is almost here, and still phones have a notch instead of a hole punch cutout. Under the hood, this phone has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SOC, which is currently the most powerful SOC under the Snapdragon 600 series. It is also a 5G SOC. There is 4/6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 64/128GB UFS 2.2 storage. The storage is expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card.

iQOO U5

Speaking of the cameras, there is a dual-camera module on the back, with the main camera having a 50MP sensor and a secondary 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, there is an 8MP camera. Both the rear and the front cameras can shoot up to FHD videos.

The battery size is 5,000mAh, and iQOO U5 supports 18W fast charging.

Finally, regarding pricing and availability, iQOO U5 comes in three colors – Black, Silver & Blue. There are three storage options, and here is the price for China –

  • 4GB + 64GB – ¥1299 ($204)
  • 6GB + 128GB – ¥1399 ($220)
  • 8GB + 128GB – ¥1499 ($235)

The phone will be on sale in China starting January 1st.