It’s that time of year again: a brand-new flagship chipset, and two hot new phones vying for your attention.
On one side, we have the iQOO 13, and on the other, the Realme GT 7 Pro. If you want to experience the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, these two are your best bets.
More importantly, both these phones are priced under ₹60,000, in fact, the iQOO can be purchased for as low as ₹51,999 with launch offers.
So, should you buy one of these, or maybe wait for something else? Let’s find out!
iQOO 13 vs Realme GT 7 Pro: Design
Both the iQOO 13 and Realme GT 7 Pro have a nice glass sandwich design with an aluminium frame.
However, I find the Realme GT 7 Pro to have a more premium feel. It feels weightier in hand and features a matte frame that resists fingerprints better than the glossy finish on the iQOO 13.
The back of the iQOO 13 is undeniably cool with its matte ivory Legend colour and subtle BMW M-inspired strips. You’d also notice this LED RGB ring around the camera island, which is fully customisable and adds some character to this phone.
Although this LED ring surrounds a downgraded camera system, which I’ll talk about in a while.
Anyway, I still prefer the Realme’s brushed metal texture on this grey colour: it just looks more upscale. Although the Realme’s matte back does show fingerprints, its overall design edges out the iQOO for me.
Both smartphones are also decently robust with an IP69 rating and credible glass protections for their displays.
Both smartphones also feature quick ultrasonic fingerprint readers. I’m glad that ultrasonic scanners are finally going mainstream 5 long years after their original debut in the Galaxy S10 series.
iQOO 13 vs Realme GT 7 Pro: Performance, Benchmarks & Software
Okay, since performance without breaking the bank is the main mantra of these two phones, let’s have a look at their benchmark scores.
Please watch the video for benchmark scores.
The iQOO 13 takes the lead with higher scores in AnTuTu and Geekbench. However, it scored surprisingly low in the Wildlife Extreme stress test, which is likely due to optimisation issues.
Although in practical terms, performance gains since the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 are hard to notice. At this point, a new flagship chip is mostly about boasting your high score on Antutu, because even a two year old 8 Gen 2 can play demanding games with ease.
And, when it comes to all the AI features, they still rely on an internet connection. So, it leaves me wondering, what are these powerful NPUs actually doing?
Anyway, in everyday use, both phones perform superbly. They handle heavy games without breaking a sweat, even during extended sessions. Both manage heat pretty well, although the iQOO 13 remained slightly cooler after a 30 minute BGMI session.
Both models also offer frame rate interpolation. The Realme can boost frame rates up to 120fps, while the iQOO has a dedicated Q2 chip that enhances gaming up to 144fps and optimises power efficiency. Do note that only a few games support frame rate interpolation.
Despite having the same chipset and 16GB of RAM, the iQOO 13 feels faster and smoother thanks to better software optimisation. Apps open swiftly on it and multitasking is seamless as well.
Realme, on the other hand, has cleaner software with fewer preinstalled apps. It doesn’t bombard you with spammy notifications like the iQOO’s V-App Store.
Both phones include the Glance lock screen, which feels out of place on premium devices.
You can disable all of these things on both phones, but cleaning up the iQOO will definitely require more time.
The iQOO 13 fights back with a longer software update cycle of 4+5 years compared to Realme’s 3+4 years.
As mentioned before, AI features are present on both phones as long as you are connected to the internet. Realme’s AI suite is more organised and user-friendly. It offers more features, though it still doesn’t match the comprehensiveness of Samsung’s AI tools.
iQOO 13 vs Realme GT 7 Pro: Cameras
After performance, now let's tackle the second most important question about these phones: are their cameras any good?
In my recent full review of the GT 7 Pro, I found its cameras to be pretty good, but not quite flagship grade.
So, given how good the iQOO 12’s cameras were, can we take the liberty of assuming that iQOO 13 has a great camera system too. Sadly, not quite.
The camera sensors have changed on the iQOO 13, and they are a bit of a downgrade, especially that telephoto lens which now has an inferior sensor and no periscope system.
Please watch the video to see camera samples.
The main camera is pretty equally matched on both phones in terms of detail, but realme can be a little inconsistent. For example, in this challenging shot, Realme struggled a bit with dynamic range, and in this second shot, it added a greenish tone to the ambience which wasn't there.
Night mode definitely goes into iQOO’s favour because of its better detail and focus, but its tendency to make the night sky blue can be annoying for some.
Both phones take detailed videos but suffer from EIS jitter. iQOO however, performs much better in tricky scenarios.
Telephoto cameras are where things get interesting, because the downgrade on the iQOO 13 versus iQOO 12 is pretty hard to ignore. In fact, in portrait shots it sometimes struggled to focus on the person, which is quite surprising for a Vivo phone.
The iQOO 13 definitely processes light flares better than the GT 7 Pro, but none of the phones were particularly consistent with skin tones.
Also, since there’s no periscope on the iQOO 13, its long range zoom is limited to just 30x.
Telephoto footage from both smartphones is not particularly stable, but it is detailed with good dynamic range.
When it comes to ultrawide, the iQOO has a clear advantage with its higher resolution camera. It takes better photos in the day as well as low light. Plus it can also shoot good videos at 4K 60fps, whereas the Realme is capped at 1080p 30fps.
Coming to selfies, the Realme has a 16MP front sensor while the iQOO has a 32MP sensor. I am not particularly fond of any of these cameras, because Realme oversharpened and brightness up every photo, whereas the iQOO does not get the skin tones right.
All things considered, the iQOO 13 still has the better camera system of these two phones. But sadly, the punch above its price magic of the iQOO 12 is just gone. So if a camera phone in this price range is what you want, try grabbing an iQOO 12 while you still can.
iQOO 13 vs Realme GT 7 Pro: Display
Display is one criteria where these two smartphones are pretty different to be honest.
At a glance, both displays are high-end: Realme shines with peak brightness, while iQOO offers a higher refresh rate.
However, the GT 7 Pro’s display has peculiar colour reproduction. It just shows bluish tones across all profiles. iQOO’s display, on the other hand, stays fairly neutral.
Realme's cooler tones is not an issue in isolation, but its tendency to exaggerate blues becomes obvious when compared to the iQOO.
iQOO 13 vs Realme GT 7 Pro: Battery Life & Charging
Finally, there’s battery life and charging. Charging is industry-leading with both phones supporting 120W wired charging and coming with a bundled adapter. But wireless charging is sadly missing on both phones.
Anyway, with or without wireless charging, battery life is pretty amazing on both smartphones. Realme’s 5,800mAh and iQOO’s 6,000mAh cells will easily give you 9+ hours of screen time with mixed use.
Even with an hour of gaming and about 3-4 hours of watching videos, the screen time hovered around the 7 hour mark on both, which is pretty brilliant.
iQOO 13 vs Realme GT 7 Pro: Verdict
Ultimately, if you want a high-end gaming phone that plays high end titles without dropping frames or heating up, both of these are fantastic options.
However, there is always just one winner, and in this case, it's the iQOO 13. It offers long software support and slightly better cameras than the Realme, but more importantly, it is cheaper by ₹5,000.
Although, knowing Realme, do keep an eye on the GT 7 Pro’s price during the New Year sale season.