iQOO 13 is set to launch in India on December 3, but ahead of it, we got a chance to test out its camera performance. The phone was unveiled last month in China and comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, a triple rear camera unit, and a 6,150mAh battery. While most of the specifications of the Indian variant are said to be similar, the battery capacity has been capped at 6,000mAh. The iQOO series phones are known for their performance credentials, but the iQOO 13 is hoping to change that with its camera prowess featuring triple 50-megapixel rear camera setup.
iQOO 13 camera specifications
The iQOO 13 features a primary 50-megapixel Sony IMX921 sensor with f/1.88 aperture, optical image stabilisation, and electronic image stabilisation. The rear main camera can also shoot videos at up to 8K 30fps resolution.
The phone features a 2x telephoto camera
You get another 50-megapixel ultrawide camera that uses the Samsung S5KJN1SQ03 sensor and offers f/2.0 aperture. Finally, there’s a 50-megapixel Sony IMX816 telephoto sensor with f/1.85 aperture and 2x optical zoom. While the telephoto is a downgrade compared to the iQOO 12, which came with a periscope telephoto sensor, iQOO claims that the new phone uses Vivo’s image processing, which should help provide better results.
iQOO 13 camera samples
We tested the cameras on the iQOO 13 in Dubai, UAE and captured plenty of photos using all three sensors. While we can’t give our verdict yet, below are some samples from the main, ultrawide, and telephoto cameras you can check out.
First, let’s take a look at some daylight and low-light photos taken using the 50-megapixel Sony IMX921 rear camera. The photos were shot in the default Photo mode.
Main camera daylight samples shot at 1x (23mm)
The iQOO 13 takes good photos in daylight conditions. The photos have plenty of detail with slightly saturated, but mostly realistic colours. The dynamic range and white balance also appear to be well balanced, but we’ll need to do more testing to see how the camera performs overall.
Next, some low-light photos from the main camera.
Main camera lowlight samples shot at 1x (23mm)
The lowlight performance from the main camera is commendable, especially for a phone whose main selling point is brute performance. The OIS in the main sensor helps with delivering less blurry photos. However, we took some photos while on the move on a cruise, which isn’t the best setting to take night photos that require the phone to be as still as possible.
Here are some samples taken from the 50-megapixel Sony IMX816 telephoto sensor in Portrait Mode at four different focal lengths.
Top to bottom: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm
I was pleasantly surprised by the portrait mode on the iQOO 13, but we’ll need to test more to see how it performs in less ideal conditions. However, the edge detection could’ve been better.
There’s also a Snapshot mode on the Camera app that is claimed to take sharp images of moving images. We, obviously, tried this on the fast-moving cars (2nd shot below) at the Dubai Autodrome. Take a look at some of the Snapshot mode shots below. 
The Snapshot feature is quite nice to have when shooting moving objects, and as you can see, the cars (travelling at over 200kmph in the 2nd image) were snapped well and aren’t blurry.
iQOO 13 is set to launch in India on December 3. Stay tuned to our full review to know our final verdict on the camera performance.
*Disclosure: iQOO sponsored the correspondent’s flights and hotel for the event in Dubai, UAE.
