Vivo iQOO Z9s

The Vivo iQOO Z9s has a non-folding, non-rugged design that measures 163.7 mm tall, 75 mm wide, and just 7.5 mm thick, giving it a notably slim profile for a device weighing 182 g. Its total volume comes in at 92.08 cm³, keeping it compact and manageable. On the durability front, the phone carries an IP64 rating, meaning it offers solid protection against dust ingress and water splashes from any direction, making it reasonably resistant to everyday exposure to the elements.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s features a 6.67″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 1080 x 2392 px and a pixel density of 393 ppi, delivering a sharp and vibrant visual experience. The panel runs at a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth on-screen motion and supports both HDR10 and HDR10+ for enhanced contrast and color range, though Dolby Vision is not supported. An Always-On Display is available, keeping essential information visible without fully waking the screen, while the device does not include a secondary screen or branded damage-resistant glass.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300, a 4 nm chipset built on an octa-core configuration running four cores at 2.5 GHz and four at 2 GHz, with 8 threads and support for big.LITTLE and HMP technologies for efficient workload distribution. The SoC integrates LTE, a Mali G615 MC2 GPU clocked at 1047 MHz with DirectX 12 support, and handles a single display output. The device comes with 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM at 6400 MHz and 256 GB of internal storage, with a maximum supported memory of 16 GB, while the chip itself packs 6,200 million transistors. In benchmarks, it scores 708,000 on AnTuTu, 2,932 on Geekbench 6 multi-core and 1,026 on single-core, and 10,803 on PCMark Work 3.0, with full 64-bit support rounding out the platform.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s carries a dual-lens rear camera system consisting of a 50 MP main sensor at f/1.8 and a 2 MP secondary lens at f/2.4, both using CMOS technology without a back-illuminated sensor. The main camera supports optical image stabilization, phase-detection autofocus, touch autofocus, and continuous autofocus during video recording, though laser autofocus is absent. It can record video at up to 2160p at 60 fps, with slow-motion recording also available, but HDR10 and Dolby Vision recording are not supported. Manual controls extend to exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, while burst mode, timelapse, panorama, and HDR mode are all on board; manual shutter speed, however, is not available. The two LED flash units on the rear are not dual-tone or RGB. On the front, a single-lens 16 MP camera sits at f/2.5 — not under the display and without its own flash — rounding out a fairly versatile but straightforward camera setup with no 3D or 360-degree capture capabilities.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s runs Android 14 and includes a solid set of privacy controls, covering clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera and microphone access management, and app tracking blocking, though cross-site tracking protection and Mail Privacy Protection are absent. On the customization side, the OS supports dynamic and manual theme customization, dark mode, extra dim mode, customizable notifications, widgets, and a media picker, while focus modes and app offloading are not available. Productivity is aided by split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, full-page screenshots, Live Text, sharing intents, and the ability to play games while they download, though the device cannot be used as a PC and does not support Quick Start. The system also features on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, phone tracking, multi-user support, a child lock, and a battery health check, and while it does not receive direct OS vendor updates, it is based on a free and open-source platform. Wi-Fi password sharing is not supported.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s is equipped with a 5500 mAh rechargeable battery that is non-removable and does not support wireless charging. It does, however, support 44W fast charging, allowing for quicker top-ups over a wired connection. A battery level indicator is present, keeping users informed of remaining charge at a glance.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s includes stereo speakers for a wider audio output, but omits a 3.5 mm headphone jack, so wired headphones require an adapter or a USB-C solution. On the wireless audio side, none of the high-quality Bluetooth codecs are supported — aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LDAC are all absent. The device also does not have a built-in radio tuner.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s supports 5G connectivity with download and upload speeds of up to 3270 Mbits/s, and accommodates two SIM cards alongside Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6 for versatile wireless networking. Bluetooth 5.4 is on board, while NFC is absent, ruling out contactless payments or quick pairing via that method. The device connects via USB Type-C at USB 2.0 speeds and offers no external memory slot or HDMI output. For navigation, it includes GPS with Galileo support, a compass, a gyroscope, and an accelerometer, though a barometer, heart rate monitor, infrared sensor, and ANT+ support are all missing. Security is handled by a fingerprint scanner, with no 3D facial recognition or iris scanner present. Crash detection, emergency SOS via satellite, DLNA certification, motion tracking, optical tracking, and a built-in projector are likewise not featured, and no stylus is included.

The Vivo iQOO Z9s features a curved display and includes a video light for illumination during video recording. The screen is not sapphire glass and is not an e-paper display.