SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · iQOO

iQOO 9 review: A BMW-liveried Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagship with 120 W charging.

SpecEagle Editorial·Jan 2022·$649
Overall
80/100
Class rank
#23 of 27
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
At the right price
The verdict, up front

The BMW phone, fast in every sense.

iQOO 9 wore the BMW M tri-stripe and packed an 8 Gen 1, a QHD+ Samsung panel, gimbal OIS and 120 W charging at $649 — the era's full performance recipe. The chip's heat and missing IP rating defined its limits; it remains the Legend-edition collectors' favourite.

01Display

84/100

84/100 trails the 89-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2022.

TypeAMOLED (Samsung E5), 120 Hz, 1,500 nits peak
Size6.78 inches
Resolution3,200 × 1,440 px (QHD+)
ProtectionGorilla Glass Victus

02Camera

76/100

76/100 trails the 81-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2022.

Main48 MP, f/1.79 (Sony IMX598), gimbal OIS
Telephoto13 MP, 2× optical
Ultrawide13 MP, f/2.2
Selfie16 MP

03Performance

84/100

84/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2022 — 6 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

ChipsetSnapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm)
Coolinglarge VC + sublimation thermal pad
RAM8 / 12 GB
Storage256 / 512 GB

04Battery

80/100

80/100 trails the 85-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2022.

Capacity4,700 mAh
Wired120 W FlashCharge

05Build

80/100

80/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2022.

06Value

80/100

80/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2022.

What works
  • QHD+ 120 Hz Samsung E5 panel.
  • 120 W charging — full in 18 min.
  • Gimbal OIS main camera.
  • BMW M Legend edition is genuinely fun.
What doesn't
  • Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 ran very hot.
  • No IP rating.
  • No wireless charging.
  • China-first; OriginOS abroad.
Cross-shop it against
Magic 5 Pro
$1180 · score 90/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 27-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .