Do you remember when the iQOO Z9 Turbo was released about half a year ago? My colleagues around me generally had high praise for that phone. Its appearance resembled a smaller iQOO 12, and its core configuration included a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen3, a separate graphics chip Turbo, and a 6000mAh Blue Ocean battery. It was indeed a great gaming phone.

Now that the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ has arrived, where does the '+' enhance the experience, and who is it suitable for? Let's find out together.

Design

The iQOO Z9 Turbo+ doesn't differ much from the Z9 Turbo in terms of design, including the round and square camera module and the delicate scale texture decoration ring around the module. In terms of color options, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ comes in three colors: Night Black, Starlight White, and Moonlight Titanium. The Moonlight Titanium version we have feels great, with a matte finish and a delicate touch.

On the front, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ is equipped with a 6.78-inch screen made of Huaxing C8 display material, featuring a 144Hz refresh rate, 1.5K resolution, and a local peak brightness of up to 4500 nits. It also boasts an instantaneous sampling rate of 2000Hz and supports SGS low blue light certification and 3840Hz ultra-high-frequency PWM dimming, ensuring excellent eye protection.

The screen of the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ adopts a bezel-less design, resulting in excellent screen border performance. The top and side borders are extremely narrow, reaching flagship-level standards, while the bottom border is slightly wider but still well-maintained.

It's worth mentioning that the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ has a body thickness of only 7.98mm and weighs just 196g. When I learned that its battery capacity reached 6400mAh, I was truly amazed at how slim and light this phone is!

Performance Test

As everyone knows, the Dimensity 9300+, with its all-big-core CPU architecture, is currently the top performer in the Android camp when it comes to pure gaming performance. It boasts four Cortex-X4 super cores with a maximum frequency of 3.4GHz and four Cortex-A720 big cores with a frequency of 2.00GHz, so performance is not a concern. Of course, this phone also offers up to 16GB of LPDDR5X memory and 512GB of UFS 4.0 flash storage. If you wish, you can even expand the memory up to 16GB.

Based on benchmark tests, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ scored 2,148,952 points on AnTuTu, with 511,103 points for the CPU and 895,660 points for the GPU. In Geekbench 6, it scored 2,264 points in the single-core test and 7,534 points in the multi-core test. The 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test yielded an overall score of 5,092 with an average frame rate of 30.49fps.

It's clear from the benchmarks that the iQOO Z9 Turbo+, equipped with the Dimensity 9300+, firmly belongs to the first tier in terms of performance. To enhance gaming performance, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ also comes with a self-developed gaming chip, the Q1, which provides super-resolution and overclocking capabilities in many games.

Games like Arena of Valor pose no challenge to the iQOO Z9 Turbo+, so we chose Genshin Impact for our super-resolution and overclocking tests.

Currently, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ supports two modes in Genshin Impact: 1.5K super-resolution + 72fps overclocking and 900P super-resolution + 144fps overclocking. Personally, I recommend choosing the 1.5K + 72fps mode, as visual quality is crucial in open-world games, and 72fps provides sufficient smoothness for most gamers.

With 1.5K super-resolution + 72fps overclocking enabled and high-quality graphics settings, we conducted a 20-minute test involving running and battling enemies. The frame rate remained stable at around 72fps (displayed as 36fps on the testing software, but the actual frame rate is doubled to 72fps via interpolation), and power consumption was a respectable 5W.

In addition to Genshin Impact, we also tested Game for Peace, a shooter game that prioritizes frame rate. The iQOO Z9 Turbo+ currently supports 900P super-resolution + 144fps in Game for Peace. After several rounds of gameplay, the experience was exceptionally smooth, with an average frame rate of 71.73fps (actual frame rate doubled to approximately 144fps) and power consumption of just 4W.

It's worth noting that to provide a more comprehensive gaming experience, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ is equipped with an X-axis linear motor that provides feedback during skills and attacks, enhancing immersion. The phone also supports Monster+ mode, which, when combined with an official cooling clip, can further boost performance for avid gamers.

Battery and Charging

For many college students, the day might be packed with classes, and they might not have access to a charger all day. This puts higher demands on battery life. This year, iQOO has focused on large-capacity batteries, and the 6000mAh battery in the Z9 Turbo already impressed me. Now, the Z9 Turbo+ has been upgraded to a 6400mAh Blue Ocean battery.

Remarkably, despite the increased battery capacity, the Z9 Turbo+ maintains the same thickness as the Z9 Turbo, with just a 1g increase in weight. This demonstrates iQOO's rapid progress in battery technology.

In terms of battery life, the phone can easily last a full day of normal use. Even if you plan to spend the entire day in the library watching online courses, the battery should suffice.

For charging, the phone comes with an 80W fast charger. In our tests, starting from 3% battery, it took just 10 minutes to reach 26%, 20 minutes to 47%, 30 minutes to 64%, 40 minutes to 82%, and 52 minutes to reach a full charge. Considering the 6400mAh battery, this charging speed is quite impressive. A quick 20-minute charge during your morning routine can replenish half the battery, making it perfect for emergencies.

It's worth mentioning that the Z9 Turbo+ also supports 7.5W wired reverse charging (the large battery allows for such versatility). This means if your TWS earbuds run out of juice while you're on the go, you can quickly charge them with your phone for a few extra minutes of music enjoyment. Although you might not use this feature often, it's reassuring to know that the large battery and reverse charging capabilities of this phone have been thoughtfully considered.

Camera Experience

In terms of photography, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ features a dual-camera setup on the rear, including a 50-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, covering focal lengths from 0.5x to 2x. The phone employs the same NICE algorithm found in Blue's flagship models, resulting in better-than-expected image quality.

The main camera offers an excellent shooting experience, delivering flagship-level image quality with rich colors and stability. For daily shooting, the vivid imaging style is recommended. For more emotional expressions, the texture mode can be chosen for higher contrast and more layers in the image.

The 2x zoom of the main camera also produces high-quality images without noticeable quality degradation. It's perfect for portraits and capturing content from blackboards or projectors during lectures.

The ultra-wide-angle camera provides a decent shooting experience in well-lit environments but may exhibit more noise in low-light conditions.

In terms of video recording, both the main camera and 2x zoom of the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ support up to 4K/60fps video resolution, while the ultra-wide-angle camera is limited to 1080P/30fps. The camera also offers comprehensive watermark functions and professional mode, allowing both the main camera and ultra-wide-angle camera to capture RAW format photos. The iQOO Z9 Turbo+ is sure to meet your daily photography needs.

Flagship Peripheral Configuration

Many phones marketed for gaming performance often neglect peripheral configurations, resulting in average experiences in non-gaming scenarios. However, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ demonstrates ample good faith by not only offering the core configurations mentioned above but also leading in other areas.

For example, the iQOO Z9 Turbo+ supports dual-band GPS and quad-band Beidou, enhancing location accuracy and saving time when hailing a taxi or navigating with maps. It also supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology, 5.5G mobile communications, and dual Wi-Fi channel switching, offering faster internet speeds.

In addition, iQOO Z9 Turbo+ also supports NFC in all scenarios, making it easy to swipe subway cards and access cards; the infrared remote control function helps you bid farewell to air conditioning and TV remote controls; IP65 dustproof and waterproof rating, adapting to harsher environments and making the phone more durable...

Of course, in terms of system, the OriginOS 4 carried by iQOO Z9 Turbo+ also has AI assistants such as Little Blue V, making the phone the smartest device that understands you best. There are also many more interesting features that are worth exploring.

Summary

iQOO has always been a brand targeted at young people, and the Z series is more suitable for student groups pursuing performance and battery life. iQOO Z9 Turbo+ has achieved the ultimate performance and battery life with the top performance of Dimensity 9300+ and a 6400mAh Blue Ocean battery. It is believed that it can already conquer many young users. Coupled with excellent screens and peripheral configurations, these advantages combine to make iQOO Z9 Turbo+ a highly recommended performance flagship at present.