When you say "gaming phone", most users would envision a smartphone with glaring "gamer" designs. These phones typically have sharp, geometric shapes and RGB lights that scream "I'm a cool gamer" all over.

However, Vivo's performance-focused sub-brand, iQOO, has a different take. Although the iQOO 11 is a gaming phone, it doesn't have the typical gamer look. Instead, it focuses on elegance while delivering the power you need to run the latest games.

So, is it worth your hard-earned money even if the iQOO 11 doesn't look like a typical gamer phone? Let's find out.

In the Box

The iQOO 11 comes in a matte black box with a BMW M Motorsport Premium Partner badge. However, aside from the badge on the box and the iconic stripe that runs on the phone's back, you'll find no other sign that iQOO partnered with BMW's racing division.

Once you open the box, you'll find the phone on top of a plastic tray. When you remove the phone and lift the tray, you'll find a board with a BMW M4 GT3 bookmark, some paperwork, and the SIM card removal tool.

Underneath that, you'll find a TPU case, a charging cable, and USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter, and a massive 120-watt USB-C GaN charger. This charger is so quick you can even power your laptop.

It's almost the same package as the Vivo V25 Pro, except that it does not come with wired earphones.

iQOO 11 Design

Looking at the phone itself, we received the Legend model, which has a white fiberglass and vegan leather back, giving it an elegant look and feel. The leather back is unique among most premium smartphones today, which usually have a glass back, so it's tempting to use it without a case.

You'll also find a massive camera module that takes up nearly a third of the back. Despite being a gaming phone, the iQOO 11 utilizes Vivo's excellent photography system. It has a 23mm f/1.88 AF OIS lens mated to a 50MP 1/1.57" sensor as a primary camera; a 50mm f/2.46 AF telephoto and portrait camera; and a 16mm f/2.2 ultrawide camera.

The phone's frame is aluminum, with the power button and volume rockers on the right side. At the bottom, you'll find the SIM card tray, USB-C port, and a loudspeaker, and at the top, you'll find two holes—one for the microphone and another for the IR blaster.

On the front of the phone, you'll find a 16MP f/2.45 selfie camera, an optical fingerprint sensor, and a 6.78-inch AMOLED display boasting a 1440 x 3200 resolution with a 144Hz refresh rate. The screen has 600 nits of typical brightness but can hit up to 1,800 nits at peak.

iQOO 11 Performance

What really makes the iQOO 11 stand out from the crowd is that it's one of the first phones to get Qualcomm's latest SoC—the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This is apparent when we look at the phone's benchmark results.

The iQOO 11 netted 1,468 single-core and 4,740 multi-core scores on Geekbench 5's CPU test. This is a 12% and 17% improvement over another gaming phone running the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, which had a 1,302 single-core and 4,050 multi-core score.

However, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 shines in Geekbench 5's Vulkan test, where the iQOO 11 scored 9,408 points—more than double that of a gaming phone with the previous generation SoC, which only earned 4,643. We also got similar results from AnTuTu, which consistently had higher scores than the Gen 1 SoC.

The iQOO 11 is advertised as a gaming phone—however, it lacks active cooling, a crucial feature for continuous, high-performance gaming. This is reflected in 3D Mark's Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. The iQOO's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 received an incredible 3,648 best loop score, a good distance from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+'s 2,722. It even bested the iPhone 14 Pro Max's A16 Bionic, which only received a 3,358 best loop score.

However, because the iQOO 11 lacks active cooling, its performance fell by 42.8% to 2,086 after just 20 minutes. Take this in contrast with a gaming phone with active cooling, whose performance only dropped by 3% after 20 minutes of intense testing.

Nevertheless, because of this throttling, the phone's temperature only hit a maximum of 43 degrees C during testing. That way, you can game on it comfortably without worrying about the phone getting too toasty for your fingers.

The iQOO 11 has high-end specifications, which include the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, 16GB RAM, and 256GB storage. However, Vivo has to cut some corners to reduce its cost, so the phone does not have an IP rating nor does it feature a specially protected screen such as Gorilla Glass.

Still, you'll find a red gasket inside the SIM tray, meaning it might have some water ingress protection, but Vivo didn't bother certifying it to save money. You should keep it away from environmental hazards, if you want your phone to last.

User and Gaming Interface

When you open the phone for the first time, it greets you with a typical Vivo interface. Although you won't find any gaming widgets, you'll see that it has several Vivo apps that many would find unnecessary. It also pushes the V-Appstore over the Google Play Store, which can sometimes get annoying.

Nevertheless, this lack of gamer aesthetic on the home screen is refreshing, especially if you want your phone to look more natural when you're not playing.

But when you're in the mood to play games, you can launch your games directly from the home screen, or you can turn on the Game Space by turning the phone on its side (power button side up) and tapping and holding both the left and right sides of the screen.

Game Space will automatically show you the games you have installed, your phone's CPU, GPU, and temperature performance, as well as gaming statistics—like how many hours you've played for the week and which games you play the most.

Once you start gaming, you can swipe from the left edge of the screen to show the phone's in-game menu. This menu shows your phone's current performance and battery level and lets you change its power mode.

You also get features like Background calls, Block notifications, Reject, and Lock brightness to ensure you're not disturbed during gaming. You'll find the Screenshots and Record screen buttons that let you capture and share your gaming moments easily.

Lastly, you can also set up Motion control, which lets you use your phone's gyroscope and bind it with specific taps on the screen. Alternatively, you can choose Pressure-sensitive screen instead, which allows you to tap anywhere on the left or right side of the screen, and the phone will then map it to a specific area in the display.

Aside from those extra software features, the iQOO 11 feels very similar to the Vivo V25 Pro, except that it's a bit larger, has a more premium finish, and offers better performance.

Audio Quality

The iQOO 11 has reasonably loud stereo speakers, allowing you to enjoy music even in a noisy environment. Although the sound quality isn't the best, you wouldn't mind it unless you're a complete audiophile. You can also use your 3.5mm headphones with the included USB-C adapter (there is no dedicated headphone port), so you don't have to worry about connecting your wired in-ear monitors if you're dissatisfied with the audio quality.

It also features Bluetooth 5.3, so you can easily enjoy gaming with your Bluetooth headphones without worrying about audio lag.

Camera Quality

One advantage of iQOO over some of the other gaming smartphones is that vivo's fantastic camera technology backs it up. Although it doesn't have the fancy Zeiss optics or four camera lenses, it's still powered by Vivo's V2 chip, focusing on delivering the best possible image quality.

The 50MP main shooter shoots well in nearly all instances. It can faithfully recreate colors, reacts relatively quickly, and captures textures well. It can also quickly autofocus on the subject, allowing you to get pin-sharp details. It also has excellent image processing, preventing overexposed and underexposed areas in challenging lighting conditions.

Portrait mode delivers perfect photos with a shallow depth of field. My only gripe is that the default setting has a filter enabled, making me look like an anime character when I first started using it. But once turned off, the phone captures a realistic selfie image.

You can manually adjust the bokeh effect from f/0.95 to f/16 during or after taking the photo, allowing you to capture portraits as you like. There are plenty of different styles to change the feel of your images without post-processing them in third-party apps.

The phone also has an excellent Night mode. It captures dark images clearly, without over-enhancements or extra grain. And if the scene is too dark, you'll get a warning which shows you how long the exposure will be. You can stabilize the phone or mount it on a tripod for the perfect night image.

If you need to capture a wider area, you can zoom out with the iQOO 11's 16mm-equivalent ultrawide lens. Although it doesn't have the same quality as the primary and telephoto cameras, it still produces a good image for capturing wide, expansive views.

A Classy Phone for Gamers

The iQOO 11 does a lot of things right. It has a premium finish and feels great in your hand. It has top-of-the-line specifications that allow you to push the performance of your games. It has a great camera system that lets you take excellent photos, a massive 5,000 mAh battery for all-day use and extended gaming, and a 120-watt fast charger that will recharge your device from flat empty to 100% in a little over 30 minutes.

The only issue I have with this gaming-focused smartphone is that it doesn't have active cooling. Since it doesn't have a built-in fan or at least an included official accessory for cooling it, the phone's performance precariously drops after extended gaming.

If you're one to play a match or two of Call of Duty: Mobile or Mobile Legends daily and want a phone that's discreet and usable the rest of the day, the iQOO 11 is the one for you. But if you're planning to play for hours on end on this phone, you'll need to get a third-party cooling solution to ensure that the phone's performance doesn't drop off after several hours of playtime.