iQOO Z9 review: Sony OIS and a bright AMOLED on a sub-$250 gaming-leaning budget phone.
The student gamer's value pick.
Z9 gives the spec-sheet trio a budget buyer screenshots — OIS Sony camera, bright AMOLED, big battery — and keeps the jack and microSD. The Dimensity 7200 holds frame rates where it matters. The filler second lens and IP54 are the price; for the money it lands well.
01Display
76/100At 76/100 this is one of the strongest display showings among budget phones of 2024 — 8 points above the cohort average.
02Camera
66/100At 66/100 this is one of the strongest camera showings among budget phones of 2024 — 7 points above the cohort average.
03Performance
64/100At 64/100 this is one of the strongest performance showings among budget phones of 2024 — 9 points above the cohort average.
04Battery
78/10078/100 trails the 81-point cohort average for budget phones of 2024.
05Build
66/10066/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2024.
06Value
78/100At 78/100 this is one of the strongest value showings among budget phones of 2024 — 7 points above the cohort average.
- Sony IMX882 with OIS at $230.
- 1,800-nit AMOLED.
- Headphone jack + microSD survive.
- Dimensity 7200 handles BGMI at high settings.
- 2 MP bokeh filler instead of ultrawide.
- IP54 splash only.
- Funtouch ships heavy bloat.
- Two OS updates.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 223-phone cohort of budget devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .