Home > Smartphone comparison > iQOO 15 vs iQOO 12 โ€“ which one to choose?

Vivo iQOO 15 vs iQOO 12

93 out of 100
Vivo iQOO 15
VS
74 out of 100
Vivo iQOO 12
Vivo iQOO 15
Vivo iQOO 12

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.85-inch Vivo iQOO 15 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on October 20, 2025, against the Vivo iQOO 12, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and came out 2 years before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Vivo iQOO 15
  • Shows 77% longer battery life (39:26 vs 22:20 hours)
  • Delivers 106% higher peak brightness (2942 against 1426 nits)
  • Comes with 2000 mAh larger battery capacity: 7000 vs 5000 mAh
  • 69% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3950K versus 2333K)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 40W
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
  • The phone is 2 years newer
  • 12% higher pixel density (508 vs 453 PPI)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Vivo iQOO 12
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Supports higher wattage charging (120W versus 100W)
  • Weighs 21.5 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Vivo iQOO 15 and iQOO 12 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
iQOO 15
89*
iQOO 12
71*
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
iQOO 15
100
iQOO 12
65
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
iQOO 15
93*
iQOO 12
74*
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
๐Ÿ“ฑ Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your countryโ€™s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
63.4
(Average)
Value Index
51.2
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iQOO 15
vs
iQOO 12

Display

Type AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.85 inches 6.78 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3168 pixels 1260 x 2800 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 508 ppi 453 ppi
Refresh rate 144 Hz 144 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes
Max rated brightness 2600 nits 3000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 6000 nits -
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 90.2% 89.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 100% -
PWM 561 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast โˆž Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
iQOO 15 +106%
2942 nits
iQOO 12
1426 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 163.65 mm (6.44 inches) 163.22 mm (6.43 inches)
Width 76.8 mm (3.02 inches) 75.8 mm (2.98 inches)
Thickness 8.1 mm (0.32 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 220 g (7.76 oz) 198.5 g (7 oz)
Waterproof IP69 IP64
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue White, Black, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
iQOO 15 +1%
90.2%
iQOO 12
89.7%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Vivo iQOO 15 and Vivo iQOO 12
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Max clock 4610 MHz 3300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime		 - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4
L3 cache 12 MB 12 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Adreno 750
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1300 MHz 903-1000 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Vivo iQOO 15 and Vivo iQOO 12
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iQOO 15 +65%
3584
iQOO 12
2177
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iQOO 15 +67%
11143
iQOO 12
6672
Compute Score (GPU)
iQOO 15 +68%
27247
iQOO 12
16186
Compute Score (GPU) 27247 16186
Single-core score 3584 2177
Multi-core score 11143 6672
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
iQOO 15 +69%
3950082
iQOO 12
2333285
CPU 1112833 643259
GPU 1494722 818824
Memory 442350 348314
UX 900177 522888
Total score 3950082 2333285
Samples [24 tests] [9 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
iQOO 15 +65%
2806
iQOO 12
1698
Stability 54% 93%
Graphics test 21 FPS 13 FPS
Graphics score 2806 1698
3DMark Solar Bay
iQOO 15 +42%
12156
iQOO 12
8555
Stability - 81%
Graphics test 46 FPS 33 FPS
Section 1 52 FPS 36 FPS
Section 2 46 FPS 33 FPS
Section 3 40 FPS 28 FPS
Graphics score 12156 8555
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
iQOO 15 +37%
6752
iQOO 12
4912
Stability - 80%
Graphics test 40 FPS 29 FPS
Graphics score 6752 4912
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
iQOO 15 +18%
16959
iQOO 12
14359
Web score 14169 11029
Video editing 6652 6533
Photo editing 35337 32389
Data manipulation 14682 11964
Writing score 29367 20920
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (26th and 187th place)
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Vivo iQOO 15
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-09-11 (Rtesh)AnTuTu 113886893
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-09-10 (Ranit)AnTuTu 113974227
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-08-07 (tt:shikazik)AnTuTu 114017492
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-07-17 (Skarvinarn)AnTuTu 113902163
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-07-03 (cA27)AnTuTu 114140036
Add View all (35)
Vivo iQOO 12
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-09-21 (AMIT RAKESH)AnTuTu 122529668
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-08-29 (ิดีกีพีซีฉ)AnTuTu 112342743
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-08-18 -> vadyamkaAnTuTu 112090139
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-07-11 (Gojo Satoru)AnTuTu 112358558
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-06-21 (Armaan)AnTuTu 112398289
Add View all (15)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.1 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM OriginOS 6 OriginOS 6
OS size 57 GB -
OS updates 5 years -
Security updates 7 years -

Battery

Capacity 7000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 120 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (40 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes (60% in 30 min) Yes (85% in 15 min)
Full charging time 0:52 hr 0:20 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 18:52 hr 08:42 hr
Watching video 27:27 hr 15:33 hr
Gaming 09:04 hr 05:56 hr
Standby 147 hr 98 hr
General battery life
iQOO 15 +77%
39:26 hr
iQOO 12
22:20 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 107ยฐ 119ยฐ
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.7
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX921 Omnivision OV50H
Sensor size 1/1.56" (โ‰ˆ 0.64 inch) 1/1.3" (โ‰ˆ 0.77 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.2 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 64 MP
Aperture f/2.7 f/2.6
Focal length 85 mm 70 mm
Sensor Sony IMX882 Omnivision OV64B
Sensor size 1/1.95" (โ‰ˆ 0.51 inch) 1/2.0" (โ‰ˆ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.1 f/2.0
Focal length 15 mm 15 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 Samsung S5KJN1
Sensor size 1/2.76" (โ‰ˆ 0.36 inch) 1/2.76" (โ‰ˆ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.64 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 16 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 4608 x 3456
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.5
Focal length 21 mm -
Sensor GalaxyCore GC32E1 Samsung S5K3P9
Sensor size 1/3.1" (โ‰ˆ 0.32 inch) 1/3.1" (โ‰ˆ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital No
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 5.4
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port Yes Yes
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No -
Speakers test
Max loudness
iQOO 15
84.1 dB
iQOO 12
n/a

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced October 2025 November 2023
Release date October 2025 November 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $699 $625
Successor - - Vivo iQOO 15
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 100 W Yes, 120 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Vivo iQOO 15 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
14 (41.2%)
20 (58.8%)
Total votes: 34

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