A close call between the two offerings from iQOO and Realme!!
The flagship killer segment brings almost all the smartphones that come with some flagship specifications as that of the premium flagships and are priced aggressively. Last year, in this segment, we saw many launches from Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Samsung, iQOO, etc. Each of the brands had a smartphone of its own to give serious competition and also each of them was inching toward the title of the “best flagship killer”.
This year we have some great offerings from Realme and iQOO and each of them has delivered a great all-rounder product of their own. Realme came up with the GT series last year and this year we have the popular Realme GT 2 and the Realme GT 2 Pro (Review). The Realme GT 2 is out set to give fierce competition to iQOO 9 SE (Review) which is a very strong offering that brings along with it some very good specifications.
There are some things that are common in both like a premium glass design, a 120Hz AMOLED display, Snapdragon 888 chipset, and a 4500mAh battery with faster charging. However, there are certain differences and it is difficult to choose which is the better one of the two. So which one of them will take the top spot for the perfect flagship killer? Let’s find out in the full comparison.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Design:
In terms of design, both the iQOO 9 SE and the Realme GT 2 have a premium glass sandwich design both at the front as well as the back. The iQOO 9 SE has a matte finish design at the back and there is a rectangular camera module that houses the triple cameras with the LED flashlight just below it is the iQOO branding which is placed under a rectangular lair that extends below the camera module.
On the other hand, the Realme GT 2 sports a unique design where the back is made up of bio-polymer material which is close to the paper if you consider the Paper White or Paper Green color variants and this back has a textured finish that provides excellent grip and does not catch fingerprints or smudges. There are other two colors – Steel Black and Titanium Blue where the back is made up of glass instead of bio-polymer.
Like the iQOO 9 SE, the Realme GT 2 also has a rectangular camera module that houses triple cameras and an LED flashlight. Just beside the camera module, there is the Realme logo, and below is the signature of Naoto Fukusawa, the man behind the design of many Realme smartphones. Around the sides, both smartphones get a plastic frame instead of metallic and house the power button and volume keys.
At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a speaker grille, a primary microphone, and a dual SIM card slot. There is neither any microSD card storage slot nor a 3.5mm headphone jack. To the top, both have a secondary noise-canceling microphone. In terms of weight distribution, both smartphones have an identical weight of 199grams. Both smartphones lack IP rating but do have a P2i coating on the back.
On the front, both smartphones have a single punch-hole display with minimum bezels to the sides. So in terms of build and design, both have a premium design and it all depends on your personal preference whether you like the simple matte finish of the iQOO 9 SE or the bio-polymer finish of the Realme GT 2.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Display:
In terms of display, there is not much to differentiate between both smartphones as both of them get a 6.62-inches Full HD+(1080×2400 pixels) AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9. As these are AMOLED displays, the color reproduction and viewing angles are good on both. Both of them have a 120Hz refresh rate which is not an adaptive one but everything feels smoother on both the displays.
Both can either switch between standard 60Hz or 120Hz and also get smart switching where the display automatically switches either to 60Hz or 120Hz depending on the application in usage. Both also have a 360Hz touch sampling rate which provides faster touch responses during gaming and multi-tasking. Both these displays also get MEMC technology which enhances smoothness while watching videos.
In terms of display brightness, the Realme GT 2 holds a slight edge as it can achieve a peak brightness of 1300nits compared to 1200nits of brightness on the iQOO 9 SE. Both these displays have good visibility under sunlight. Both these displays have support for HDR content on Youtube and Widevine L1 is present so you can stream HDR on OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime, etc.
But currently, Netflix supports HDR content on the iQOO 9 SE whereas there is no support for HDR on Netflix on the Realme GT 2 and Realme will fix this issue soon with a future software update. As these are AMOLED displays, there is an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that works accurately and is faster. Overall, both these displays are great for media consumption.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Performance:
Both the iQOO 9 SE and the Realme GT 2 sport the 2021’s flagship and powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset. In terms of daily usage whether heavy or lighter multi-tasking, both smartphones could easily handle everything whether rendering videos, playing games like BGMI or doing casual web browsing, or streaming social media.
In terms of gaming, BGMI runs on Ultra HDR graphics with Ultra frame rate and you can also achieve Smooth graphics with Extreme frame rates. The gameplay was smooth on both smartphones without any stutters or lags but after some amount of time i.e. after 4-5 hours, the back of both smartphones did feel slightly warmer due to the thermal throttling of the Snapdragon 888 chipset.
In the CPU throttling test, both could achieve the sustained performance of around 70-75 percent which is good but at times the Realme GT 2 throttled lesser compared to the iQOO 9 SE. Both have a dedicated vapor cooling chamber to dissipate heat faster. In benchmarks, both scored equally good but the iQOO 9 SE had slightly better scores compared to the Realme GT 2.
In terms of network connectivity, both have good carrier aggregation and support for up to 9 bands of 5G. Both the smartphones are available in 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM with 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage. Overall, both these smartphones are great for everyday usage and also while gaming.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Software:
The iQOO 9 SE runs on FuntouchOS 12 whereas the Realme GT 2 runs on RealmeUI 3.0 and both these are based on Android 12 out of the box. Both these user interfaces have a lot of customizations where you can set the icon shape and size, wallpapers, themes, different animations for fingerprint scanner, Always-On display, etc. Both have their respective gaming modes for better gaming capabilities.
Other features include App Cloner on both, Realme GT 2 gets a GT mode which when turned on increases the power of the CPU and GPU. Both these user interfaces do come with a considerable amount of bloatware which can be uninstalled easily. There is also Dynamic RAM on both using which you can increase RAM for enhanced multitasking.
Since both the RealmeUI and FuntouchOS are based on Android 12, there are all the features like a Privacy Dashboard where you can see which application is using the camera, microphone and you can also set the location, depending on which wallpaper you choose, that color gets applied to the system, quick toggles and also to some of the applications like Contacts and Messages.
In terms of software updates, the Realme GT 2 holds the slight edge as you are assured to get another three years of AndroidOS updates and four years of security patches whereas the iQOO 9 SE will get two years of AndroidOS updates and three years of security updates. So definitely, if you want slightly better updates, then RealmeUI is better, or choosing either of the two is not an issue.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Cameras:
Both the iQOO 9 SE and the Realme GT 2 sport a triple camera setup but the cameras are different on both. The iQOO 9 SE has a 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX598 sensor for the main camera, a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. The Realme GT 2 has a 50MP f/1.8 Sony IMX766 sensor on the main camera, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera.
Both the smartphones have a 16MP f/2.5 camera on the front. The images from both the cameras come out with a good amount of details that look sharp and the dynamic range is equally good on both. However, in terms of colors, the Realme GT 2 maintains natural colors in the background whereas the iQOO 9 SE provides slightly oversaturated colors. The noise is less on the iQOO 9 SE compared to the Realme GT 2.
Using the 50MP mode on the Realme GT 2, the images come out with sharper details and there is no oversharpening in the images as such whereas with the 48MP mode on the iQOO, noise is slightly prominent and there is a lot of contrast in the images. The HDR performance is slightly better on the iQOO 9 SE compared to the Realme GT 2.
The images come out with a very good dynamic range and details come out sharper on both smartphones but there is a slight amount of noise present on the Realme GT 2 compared to the iQOO 9 SE. With the dedicated night mode, the images come out with excellent dynamic range, and also noise is slightly lower on the iQOO 9 SE compared to the Realme GT 2.
In terms of the ultrawide camera, the iQOO 9 SE has a slightly better 13MP camera compared to an 8MP camera on the Realme GT 2. As a result, the details look much sharper, and the dynamic range is better on the iQOO 9 SE compared to the Realme GT 2. The Realme GT 2 does oversharpen in the background and there is a lot of noise compared to the iQOO 9 SE.
The 13MP ultrawide camera also has a larger 123-degree field of view compared to the 119-degree field of view on the Realme GT 2. During the night, the images from the ultrawide camera on the Realme GT 2 have a larger amount of noise, and the dynamic range is not as good as that on the iQOO 9 SE. Both retain natural colors but Realme GT 2 does some oversharpening which is not the case with the iQOO 9 SE.
The Realme GT 2 has a dedicated 2MP macro camera and details come out slightly softer with washed-out colors with very poor dynamic range. There is a considerable amount of noise present and this macro camera lacks autofocus. The iQOO 9 SE, on the other hand, uses its ultrawide camera as a macro camera, and using this 13MP camera, the details look sharper with excellent dynamic range and noise is also very low.
In terms of portraits, the iQOO 9 SE has slightly better edge detection and dynamic range compared to the Realme GT 2. The details look sharper on both with natural-looking skin tones and the noise is also much lower. The background blur is equally good on both though. On the front, both smartphones get a 16MP camera that takes some very selfies with excellent dynamic range and noise is also lower.
However, there is slight oversharpening in the background in selfies taken from the iQOO 9 SE and also colors look natural on the Realme GT 2 compared to the iQOO 9 SE which does apply some skin smoothening in the selfies. In terms of selfie portraits, the iQOO 9 SE has better edge detection and background blur compared to the Realme GT 2 but the latter has natural colors and less oversharpening in the background.
In terms of videos, both smartphones can record 4K videos at 60fps and there is no support for 8K video recording. The videos from both smartphones come out with good dynamic range and details and also look sharper with natural colors in the background. The noise is slightly more prominent in the videos on the iQOO 9 SE and also OIS works in 4K videos on the Realme GT 2.
On the other hand, the iQOO 9 SE implements OIS only in 1080p videos at 30/60fps so as a result the videos come out better stabilized on the Realme GT 2 with less noise compared to the iQOO 9 SE. Switching to 1080p videos at 60fps on the main camera, both smartphones come out with good dynamic range, less noise, and also details look sharper.
The ultrawide camera on both smartphones can record 1080p videos at 30fps and these videos come out with slightly better dynamic range and less noise on the iQOO 9 SE compared to the Realme GT 2. On the front, the videos come out much better on the Realme GT 2 as it has the edge in terms of dynamic range and contrast with slightly less noise compared to the iQOO 9 SE but by a very slight margin.
Overall, the rear cameras are better in terms of images on the iQOO 9 SE whereas, in videos and front camera images, the Realme GT 2 is better.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Battery Life:
In terms of battery, the Realme GT 2 sports a slightly larger battery at 5000mAh compared to the 4500mAh battery on the iQOO 9 SE. With normal usage that includes casual web browsing, streaming social media, and also casual gaming, with the display being set to 120Hz, both the smartphones easily lasted for around two days but Realme GT 2 had some battery left whereas the iQOO 9 SE did not have any charge left.
With heavy usage which includes tasks like rendering videos, playing games for 4-5 hours continuously, etc. both smartphones could easily last for one day with the display being set to 120Hz on both. The standard screen-on time on the Realme GT 2 was around 5.5-6 hours which was slightly better than the 5-5.5 hours on the iQOO 9 SE.
In terms of charging, the iQOO 9 SE holds a slight edge as it gets a 66W fast charger which takes the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent within 35 minutes whereas the Realme GT 2 with its 65W fast charger takes around 0 to 100 percent within 45 minutes. However, the time difference in charging between smartphones is negligible. Overall, the battery life is better on the Realme GT 2.
iQOO 9 SE vs Realme GT 2 Audio Quality:
Both the iQOO 9 SE and the Realme GT 2 have dual stereo speakers that sound very loud and clear. However, the bass level is slightly better on the iQOO 9 SE but still, you get an amazing sound experience on both smartphones. Neither of them has a 3.5mm headphone jack but you do get Dolby Atmos for an enhanced audio experience.
Verdict:
What a close call it is between both the iQOO 9 SE and the Realme GT 2!! There are some things that both smartphones do share in common like a premium build and design, 120Hz AMOLED displays, powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset, good set of triple cameras and a good battery life with support for fast charging. However, there are some areas where there are slight differences between both smartphones.
The iQOO 9 SE holds a slight edge over the Realme GT 2 in terms of images from the rear cameras, gaming performance and benchmarks and also provides slightly faster charging. On the other hand, the Realme GT 2 has the edge over the iQOO 9 SE in terms of battery life, front camera and videos, extra year of Android updates and sustained performance.
So if you are looking at a smartphone with the best gaming performance with cameras and all other flagship features, then the iQOO 9 SE is the one to choose but if you are someone who wants good battery life, optimized software experience and all other flagship specifications, then the Realme GT 2 is a very good deal to be considered.
However, you cannot go wrong with either of these and at the end it all depends on your personal preference as both of them are solid budget flagships.