iQOO previously confirmed the smartphone's India launch at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 in New Delhi.
The iQOO 16 has already been launched in China
The iQOO 16 was launched in China last month and is expected to make its India debut soon. It features Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset, a high-refresh-rate AMOLED display, and a large battery. While the company has yet to announce a launch date, it did showcase the iQOO 16 at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026. A tipster has now shed light on the launch timeline of the iQOO flagship. It is tipped to be introduced in mid-December.
The iQOO 16 could launch in India between December 15 and December 17, 2026, according to tipster Abhishek Yadav, who shared the possible timeline in a post on X. The company has yet to officially confirm the launch date.
iQOO previously confirmed the smartphone's India launch at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 in New Delhi. The company also revealed that the Indian variant will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 Mobile Platform, built on a 2nm process. The handset will be the first iQOO smartphone to ship with OriginOS 7 out of the box in the country.
During an exclusive interaction with Gadgets 360 at IMC 2026, iQOO India CEO Nipun Marya described the iQOO 16 as an attempt to deliver a more complete flagship experience, rather than focusing primarily on gaming and performance. He said the company was also placing greater emphasis on the display, cameras, cooling system, and AI capabilities.
Notably, the iQOO 16 was launched in China in September. The Chinese variant features a 6.85-inch AMOLED display with a 2K resolution of 1,440x3,168 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 165Hz. It is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset and comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of onboard storage. The handset also features a triple rear camera setup with three 50-megapixel sensors, including a periscope telephoto camera, and a 32-megapixel front camera.
The iQOO 16 packs an 8,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired and 40W wireless charging.
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.