Redmi and iQOO have launched two phones in China that look alike on paper: 6.83-inch displays, 3nm processors, dedicated gaming chips, 100W wired charging and batteries of at least 9,000mAh. The Redmi K100 and iQOO Neo 12 arrived a day apart, on October 26 and 27, and the comparison comes down to one choice: more battery life on one side, sharper performance and active cooling on the other.
Battery and price
The Redmi K100 bets hardest on battery. It has a typical capacity of 10,000mAh and a nominal 9,800mAh, about 11% more than the Neo 12, which lists 9,000mAh typical and 8,820mAh nominal. The K100 is also heavier, at 234.5 grams against 225-229 grams for the iQOO, and thicker at 8.65mm against 8.50mm for the Neo 12's Shadow Black and Frostblade Blue versions.
Price favours Redmi. The K100 launched at 3,499 yuan, roughly $525, a mid-range position rather than the top tier. The Neo 12 costs more than its predecessor, the Neo 11, which iQOO had offered more cheaply.
Display
On paper the Neo 12 wins the screen. Its 6.83-inch AMOLED panel runs at 3200 x 1440 pixels, around 4.6 million pixels, 514 PPI, with a refresh rate up to 185Hz. The K100 has 2772 x 1280 pixels, about 3.5 million, roughly 24% fewer, and a maximum refresh of 165Hz.
Redmi recovers some ground on claimed brightness, up to 3,500 nits peak against 2,200 for the Neo 12, and on HDR support, listing HDR10+, HDR Vivid and Dolby Vision, formats iQOO does not specify. Both carry TÜV Rheinland eye-care certifications.
Chips and gaming
The Neo 12 uses the newer Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with two cores up to 4.6GHz, six at 3.62GHz and the Adreno 840 GPU. The K100 uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite, with a peak of 4.32GHz. Redmi claims 45% better CPU performance, 40% better graphics and 40% lower power use than its predecessor.
The real gap is in the separate gaming chips. The Neo 12 has iQOO's Q3, which the company says brings 60% more performance and 40% better efficiency than the Q2, with four times the AI capability. It runs ray tracing, super resolution and frame interpolation together, and iQOO says more than 50 games run natively at 185fps. The K100 has the D2 chip, built at 12nm, handling super resolution, interpolation and super HDR together, with output up to 1.5K. Redmi says the D2 cut average power use by 22% and peak temperature by 3.9°C in a popular MOBA at 144fps. More than 40 games run natively at 165fps, and over 100 reach it through interpolation. Some titles need updates, which Redmi expects by late November.
Cooling
Cooling splits the two phones. The Neo 12 combines a 17 x 17mm active fan, with quiet, intelligent and high-speed modes, with a 3D vapor chamber. iQOO says the chamber improves heat dissipation 15% over the Neo 11, and conductive fins add another 15% of thermal conductivity. The fan does open the body, so the dust and water protection of the assembly matters; iQOO says the fan assembly passed IPX8 and IPX9 testing.
The K100 has no fan and relies on passive cooling, with more than 12,000 mm² of graphite and over 31,000 mm² of heat-spreading material. Redmi says the cooling area is 25% larger than the previous generation. An active fan can sustain performance in long sessions, but how much that matters in practice will only be clear after testing.
The figures come from the manufacturers, who use their own test methods, so they are not directly comparable. Full reviews are still to come.
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