Vivo iQOO Z9

The Vivo iQOO Z9 has a conventional, non-folding form factor measuring 163.2 mm tall, 75.8 mm wide, and 7.8 mm thick, with a total volume of approximately 96.49 cm³ and a weight of 188 g. It carries an IP64 rating, meaning it is protected against dust ingress and resistant to water splashing from any direction, though it does not feature a rugged build. The phone is rated to operate across a temperature range of -20 °C to 50 °C, covering a broad set of environmental conditions.

The phone uses a 6.67″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 px and a pixel density of 395 ppi, delivering sharp detail across its surface. The display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate with a 300Hz touch sampling rate for responsive input, and its 6,000,000:1 contrast ratio reflects the deep blacks characteristic of OLED technology. HDR10 content is supported, though HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are not, and the Always-On Display feature is available for at-a-glance information. The screen does not use branded damage-resistant glass, and there is no secondary display.

The device is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 7200 chipset, built on a 4 nm process and configured with two high-performance cores at 2.8 GHz and six efficiency cores at 2 GHz using big.LITTLE technology, with multithreading and 64-bit support. Graphics are handled by a Mali G610 MP4 running at 850 MHz. The phone comes with 8 GB of DDR5 RAM — expandable up to 16 GB — and 256 GB of internal storage, with external memory support up to 1 TB. In benchmarks, it scores 734,924 on AnTuTu, 2,643 on Geekbench 6 multi-core, 1,187 on single-core, and 440 on 3DMark Steel Nomad. Additional platform features include integrated LTE on the SoC, TrustZone security, and integrated graphics.

The rear camera system is a dual-lens setup combining a 50MP primary sensor at f/1.8 and a 2MP secondary lens at f/2.4, with optical image stabilization, phase-detection autofocus, touch autofocus, and continuous autofocus during video recording; laser autofocus is not included. Video capture reaches up to 2160p at 30fps with HDR10 recording support, while slow-motion and timelapse modes are also available; Dolby Vision recording is not supported. Manual controls extend to exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, though manual shutter speed and RAW capture are absent, and the camera can shoot panoramas and burst sequences. The dual LED flash assists in low-light stills and video, but there is no RGB flash. On the front, a single 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture handles selfies without a secondary lens, a front flash, or an under-display placement, and HDR mode is available across both cameras.

The device runs Android 14 and includes a broad set of privacy controls covering location access, camera and microphone permissions, clipboard warnings, and app tracking blocking, though cross-site tracking blocking and Mail Privacy Protection are not available. Customization options span theme editing, dynamic theming, dark mode, and an extra dim mode for low-light comfort, while focus modes and app offloading are absent. Day-to-day usability is supported through customizable notifications, a media picker, full-page screenshots, split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, sharing intents, widgets, a child lock, and the ability to play games while they download. The software also includes on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, phone tracking, multi-user support, a battery health check tool, and Live Text for selecting text from images. OS updates do not come directly from the vendor, and Quick Start setup transfer is not supported.

The phone is equipped with a 5000 mAh non-removable rechargeable battery with a battery level indicator for monitoring charge status. It supports 44W wired fast charging, though wireless charging is not available.

The device features stereo speakers for audio output but omits a 3.5 mm headphone jack, so wired headphones require an adapter. None of the high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs — including aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LDAC — are supported, and there is no built-in radio tuner.

The phone supports 5G connectivity with a maximum download speed of 4,700 Mbits/s and accommodates two SIM cards alongside an external memory slot for expandable storage. Wireless standards include Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6, and Bluetooth 5.3 handles short-range connections, though NFC is not present. The USB Type-C port operates at USB 2.0 speeds, and there is no HDMI output. For navigation, the device includes GPS with Galileo support, a compass, a gyroscope, and an accelerometer, while a barometer, infrared sensor, heart rate monitor, ANT+ support, and DLNA certification are all absent. Security is handled by a fingerprint scanner, with no 3D facial recognition or iris scanner available. Features such as crash detection, emergency SOS via satellite, motion tracking, optical tracking, and a built-in projector are not included, and no stylus is provided.

The phone includes a video light to assist with illumination during video recording. The display is flat rather than curved and uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.