iQOO 16 Launches With 8,400mAh Battery and 43% Price Hike

iQOO launched its 16 flagship in China with a 2nm Snapdragon, a 165Hz 2K Samsung M16 panel, and a 43% higher starting price of ¥5,999.

iQOO has launched the iQOO 16 in China with a redesigned camera island, a 6.85-inch 2K Samsung M16 LTPO LEAD OLED display, and the new 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset paired with iQOO's dedicated Q4 gaming chip. The flagship carries a triple 50MP rear camera setup, an 8,400mAh battery with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging, and runs Android 17 with OriginOS 7. Sales are now live across all channels in China, with a national subsidy bringing the base model down to ¥5,499.

The iQOO 16 starts at ¥5,999 for the 12GB + 256GB variant, up ¥1,800 from the iQOO 15's launch price of ¥4,199, which Smartprix calculates as roughly a 43% increase in a single generation. The base configuration still ships with the same 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage as before, so buyers are paying considerably more for the same memory capacity. Smartprix ties the increase directly to ongoing memory shortages affecting the smartphone industry, framing it as a memory shortage turned price problem.

The 6.85-inch Samsung M16 panel runs at 3168×1440 with a 165Hz LTPO refresh rate, and iQOO claims it is the first Android phone to use Samsung's new M16 material. Brightness figures are extreme: 10,000 nits local peak, 2,800 nits in high-brightness mode, plus 3,300Hz PWM dimming, 5,000Hz instantaneous touch sampling, and an anti-reflective film. The 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 uses a 2+3+3 CPU configuration reaching around 5GHz, and the Q4 gaming chip handles ray tracing and 2K 165fps frame interpolation, with an 8K game camera feature arriving via OTA. An 8,500mm² vapor chamber manages heat.

The 8,400mAh battery is a 1,400mAh jump over the iQOO 15's 7,000mAh cell, built with fifth-generation silicon anode technology, and charging stays at 100W wired and 40W wireless with Bypass Charging 2.0. All three rear cameras use 50MP sensors: an OV50Q main sensor at 1/1.3 inches with f/1.68 and OIS rated CIPA 5.5, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP Sony periscope telephoto with a 1/1.95-inch sensor, 3x optical zoom, OIS, and up to 100x digital zoom. A 32MP front camera handles selfies, and video recording reaches 8K.

The phone comes in four configurations: ¥5,999 for 12GB + 256GB (subsidised to ¥5,499), ¥6,799 for 12GB + 512GB, ¥7,499 for 16GB + 512GB, and ¥8,499 for the 16GB + 1TB top end. Colour options are Track, Legend, and Chasing Light, with the angular geometric pattern reserved for Chasing Light and Track the thinnest and lightest variant. Elsewhere in the pack, Wazzuptechph reports pre-orders are open through the official vivoshop in China with an official sale date of October 5, 2026, while NewsBricks reports the phone is scheduled to go on sale in October through Vivo's online store.

iQOO has confirmed a global launch, so an India debut is expected, but no India date or local pricing has been announced. For reference, the iQOO 15 launched in China at ¥4,199 and arrived in India at ₹72,999, and Smartprix reports rumors that the iQOO 16's base variant could land around ₹1.2 lakh in India — a level that would put serious pressure on the brand's value-for-money positioning.