Vivo parent company brings ‘iQoo’ to India, might launch the first Snapdragon 865 SoC phone

iQoo’s India Marketing Director Gagan Arora confirmed that the new brand will be entering India as soon as next month (February) with a new smartphone.

iQoo’s first smartphone in India will be powered by Snapdragon 865 SoC. (iQoo)

As the smartphone market in India gets more competitive with brands launching more powerful smartphones with aggressive price tags, companies like Oppo and Xiaomi are betting on their 'sub-brands' to cater to different segments. We have seen Realme, Poco and others emerging as separate entities in the past couple of years and now Vivo has joined the bandwagon as well. In an exclusive talk with select publications, "iQoo" today announced its entry in India. For those unaware, iQoo launched as a Vivo sub-brand last year and was limited to China until now.

iQoo's India Marketing Director Gagan Arora confirmed that the new brand will be entering India as soon as next month (February) with a new smartphone. Although the name of the handset was not revealed, Arora did give us some tidbits on what users can expect.

One of the boldest claims made by Arora was that iQoo's upcoming smartphone will be the first in India to run on Qualcomm's flagship processor - Snapdragon 865. This will not just be the first in India with this processor but also the first that will be 5G ready.

The smartphone will also have a second variant that will be a 'non-5G' version.

Arora added that iQoo will operate as a separate brand from Vivo and will focus on premium 'user experience' for now. It is worth adding that although the smartphone will be 5G-ready, users won't be able to make use of it since India is still far from spectrum auctions and it might take around a year and half at least before 5G comes to India.

However, the brand is already in talks with telcos, which in this case are probably Airtel and Reliance Jio since these two are major players vying to introduce 5G service in India.

Talking more about the specifics of the smartphone, Arora hinted that it will have a 'unique' gaming feature, but shied away from calling it a 'gaming smartphone'. He confirmed that this new device will also have the "best in class" battery technology.

One can expect the smartphone to feature an improved version of Vivo's 'Dual Engine' fast charging tech at the least or the '120W Super Flash Fast Charging' technology, which the company announced back in June last year.

As for the price, one can expect a 'premium' pricing considering the device will run on Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.

Arora confirmed that iQoo will manufacture its smartphones in India and the brand will be based out of Bangalore. The brand plans to make its new device available through online channels and later through offline channels.

Furthermore, it was communicated that since iQoo's upcoming smartphone has not yet launched anywhere else, this will be a global launch in February. Arora added that the plan is to make the brand a global one and India will be the starting point for it.

"We see extreme potential in the premium segment smartphone market in India and have deep-dived to understand the gap that the consumers face in this segment. We understand very closely that there is an increasing demand for performance delivery devices and smooth smartphone experience, be it using multiple apps, downloading heavy files or just social media. Consumers today look for power-packed performance, and that is exactly what we offer. We are proud to share the same ethos and values exhibited by today's younger generation who grew up in the internet era. We are confident that the values of the iQOO brand resonate strongly with this audience. iQOO is a brand that understands, is in-sync and progresses with them," said Arora.