Home > Smartphone comparison > iQOO 16 vs iQOO 15 Ultra – which one to choose?

Vivo iQOO 16 vs iQOO 15 Ultra

92 out of 100
Vivo iQOO 16
VS
91 out of 100
Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
Vivo iQOO 16
Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.85-inch Vivo iQOO 16 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6) that was released on September 29, 2026, against the Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and came out 8 months 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 16
  • Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 8400 vs 7400 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 165 Hz
  • 19% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (5498K versus 4602K)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
Reasons to consider the Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
  • Has 33% more RAM: 16GB versus 12GB
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology

Review

Evaluation of Vivo iQOO 16 and iQOO 15 Ultra crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
πŸ“± Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
16 / 256 GB
49.3
(Average)
Value Index
59.9
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iQOO 16
vs
iQOO 15 Ultra

Display

Type AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.85 inches 6.85 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3168 pixels 1440 x 3168 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.8:9 19.8:9
PPI 508 ppi 508 ppi
Refresh rate 165 Hz 144 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes
Max rated brightness 2800 nits 2600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 10000 nits 8000 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 3300 Hz 475 Hz
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 90.6% 90.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space - 100%
PWM - 120 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
iQOO 16
n/a
iQOO 15 Ultra
1541 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 163.75 mm (6.45 inches) 163.65 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 76.9 mm (3.03 inches) 76.8 mm (3.02 inches)
Thickness 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) 8.7 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 222.5 g (7.85 oz) 227 g (8.01 oz)
Waterproof IP69 IP69
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Active fan
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Silver, Blue Black, Silver
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
iQOO 16
90.6%
iQOO 15 Ultra
90.7%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Vivo iQOO 16 and Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Max clock 5010 MHz 4610 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 3 + 3) 8 (2 + 6)
Architecture - 3 cores at 3.74 GHz:
- 3 cores at 4.03 GHz:
- 2 cores at 5.01 GHz: 		- 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
L3 cache - 12 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 2 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 850 Adreno 840
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1450 MHz 1300 MHz
FLOPS ~4454.4 GFLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Vivo iQOO 16 and Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iQOO 16 +4%
3764
iQOO 15 Ultra
3615
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iQOO 16 +2%
11619
iQOO 15 Ultra
11366
Compute Score (GPU)
iQOO 16 +10%
30624
iQOO 15 Ultra
27924
Compute Score (GPU) 30624 27924
Single-core score 3764 3615
Multi-core score 11619 11366
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
iQOO 16 +19%
5498720
iQOO 15 Ultra
4602290
CPU 1512400 1102292
GPU 2045600 1604604
Memory 738900 789150
UX 1201820 1106244
Total score 5498720 4602290
Samples Less than 3 [3 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 68%
Graphics test - 23 FPS
Graphics score - 3081
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 54 FPS
Section 1 - 60 FPS
Section 2 - 55 FPS
Section 3 - 46 FPS
Graphics score - 14183
Sources: 3DMark [5]
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 18545
Video editing - 6849
Photo editing - 34832
Data manipulation - 14303
Writing score - 28711
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (2nd and 13th place)
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Vivo iQOO 16
No benchmark results yet
Add
Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-30 (NPT)Geekbench 6 CPU3568 / 11293
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-04 (Khamidovv)AnTuTu 114602290
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-04 (Khamidovv)AnTuTu 114651882
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-08 (z strikes again)AnTuTu 114314224
Add View all (4)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 16 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.1 UFS 4.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 17 Android 16
ROM OriginOS 7 OriginOS 6
OS size - 96 GB
OS updates 5 years 5 years
Security updates 7 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 8400 mAh 7400 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 100 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Silicon-Carbon (Si/C)
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (40 W) Yes (40 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes Yes (50% in 24 min)
Full charging time - 1:06 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) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 107Β° 107Β°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 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/1.7 f/1.9
Focal length - 23 mm
Sensor Omnivision OV50Q Sony IMX921
Sensor size 1/1.3" (β‰ˆ 0.77 inch) 1/1.56" (β‰ˆ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.7 f/2.7
Focal length 85 mm 85 mm
Sensor Sony LYT-600 Sony IMX882
Sensor size 1/1.95" (β‰ˆ 0.51 inch) 1/1.95" (β‰ˆ 0.51 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.8 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.1 f/2.1
Focal length 15 mm 15 mm
Sensor GalaxyCore GC50D1 -
Sensor size 1/2.0" (β‰ˆ 0.5 inch) 1/2.76" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.64 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 6528 x 4896
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 21 mm 21 mm
Sensor GalaxyCore GC32E1 CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.1" (β‰ˆ 0.32 inch) 1/3.1" (β‰ˆ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 0.7 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 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 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes 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 Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
iQOO 16
n/a
iQOO 15 Ultra
91.18 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2026 February 2026
Release date September 2026 February 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $849
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, 100 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the battery life is more important to you, then choose the Vivo iQOO 16. But if the sound is more of a priority – go for the Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
3 (60%)
2 (40%)
Total votes: 5

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