Vivo iQOO Neo12 vs Honor Magic 9

90 out of 100
Vivo iQOO Neo12
VS
93 out of 100
Honor Magic 9

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.83-inch Vivo iQOO Neo12 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on October 28, 2026, against the Honor Magic 9, which is powered by the same chip and came out 1 month 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

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Vivo iQOO Neo12
  • Higher display refresh rate – 185 Hz
  • Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 9000 vs 8000 mAh
  • Has a 0.46 inch larger screen size
  • 11% higher pixel density (510 vs 461 PPI)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (100W versus 80W)
  • Faster storage type - UFS 4.1 versus UFS 4.0
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
Reasons to consider the Honor Magic 9
  • The rear camera has a 3.5x optical zoom
  • Handles wireless charging up to 50W
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Vivo iQOO Neo12 and Honor Magic 9 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
100*
99*
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
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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
12 / 256 GB
86.7
(Very good)
Value Index
74.9
(Good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
vs

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.83 inches 6.37 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3168 pixels 1236 x 2664 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.8:9 19.5:9
PPI 510 ppi 461 ppi
Refresh rate 185 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes
Max rated brightness 1000 nits 2000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2200 nits 10000 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Touch sampling rate 500 Hz -
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 91.4% 91.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Screen space comparison
iQOO Neo12
6.83″ (19.8:9 ratio) = 17.6 in2
Magic 9
6.37″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.4 in2
~13% more screen space

Design and build

Height 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) 151 mm (5.94 inches)
Width 75.9 mm (2.99 inches) 72.3 mm (2.85 inches)
Thickness 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) 8.5 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 225 g (7.94 oz) 209 g (7.37 oz)
Waterproof IP69 IP69
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray White, Black, Green, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
91.4%
91.2%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Vivo iQOO Neo12 and Honor Magic 9
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Max clock 4600 MHz 4600 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (2 + 6)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
- 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
L3 cache 8 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Adreno 840
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1300 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Vivo iQOO Neo12 and Honor Magic 9
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
3800
3597
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iQOO Neo12 +15%
12006
10478
Compute Score (GPU)
27103
27104
Compute Score (GPU) 27103 27104
Single-core score 3800 3597
Multi-core score 12006 10478
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
4647154
4288382
CPU 1115058 1212902
GPU 1447437 1469542
Memory 530517 600024
UX 948177 1005914
Total score 4647154 4288382
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (15th and 21st place)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5333 MHz 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 17 Android 17
ROM OriginOS 7 MagicOS 11
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 9000 mAh 8000 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 80 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Silicon-Carbon (Si/C)
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No Yes (50 W)
Reverse charging Yes Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging - Yes
Fast charging Yes Yes
Full charging time 1:17 hr -

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 200 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 -
Zoom Digital Optical, 3.5x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 119° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 200 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 200 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.9
Focal length 23 mm -
Sensor Sony LYT-700C -
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.4" (≈ 0.71 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron -
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 200 MP
Aperture - f/2.6
Sensor size - 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) -
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 16 megapixels 55 megapixels
Aperture f/2.5 f/2.0
Focal length 24 mm 21 mm
Sensor Sony IMX480 -
Sensor size 1/3.09" (≈ 0.32 inch) 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron -
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) 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 5.4 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
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* No No
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes No

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced October 2026 September 2026
Release date October 2026 October 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $630 $745
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, 80 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the camera, connectivity, software, and design are more important to you, then choose the Honor Magic 9. But if the sound is more of a priority – go for the Vivo iQOO Neo12.

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