In Conversation with Nipun Marya: Unpacking the power and pricing of the flagship iQOO 15

The iQOO 15 has been launched in India and has been subject to rave reviews ever since its launch. Critics have praised its design, its battery, its camera but most importantly its performance. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Nipun Marya, the CEO of iQOO, to discuss the launch of the iQOO 15. I had already been using the device as my primary phone for a fortnight and found it to be fascinating, leaving virtually no room for criticism. Our conversation focused on addressing the key questions surrounding the phone, especially its performance capabilities and other topics too, like  the reasons behind the rising price and its impressive camera capabilities. The following is my conversation with Nipun Marya:

Business Today: Firstly, in a price-sensitive segment like India, we are seeing major jumps in prices of flagship devices. The iQOO 15 itself has jumped a few thousand rupees from the previous generation. What is the reason behind this? Is it the silicon carbide battery? Is it the new processor, or is it just an overall industry trend that’s taking place?

Nipun Marya: So, there are two parts to this. Firstly, you are right that if you see the price which consumers were getting from the iQOO 13 to the iQOO 15, there is some bit of a jump. But now, compare it to the upgrades that one is seeing from the 13 to the 15: right from the display, the processor, the battery technology, and the software features—everything adds up. From a purely upgrade perspective, the iQOO 15 is truly a remarkable upgrade and certainly warrants the extra price, which is there. Secondly, it is no secret right now that the whole industry is facing a huge surge in component prices. That also is a significant part.

Business Today: My second question is about the camera performance, which is quite remarkable. How much of the optics of the iQOO 15 are shared with Vivo flagships, and is that the primary reason for the camera performance?

Nipun Marya: Absolutely, there is no doubt about it. Considering the fact that iQOO can leverage vivo's supremacy and expertise in camera technology, iQOO really stands to benefit from that. Because, as you understand, camera performance is a combination of both hardware and software. The software tuning plays a very important role: your colour science, your texture sense, everything plays a major role. The AI engines for scene detection play a major role. So, all of that technology from vivo does get shared with iQOO, and that is certainly a major contributor when it comes to camera performance.

Business Today: So, is it [camera] exactly the same, or are there certain downgrades or differentiations that we see?

Nipun Marya: Certainly, if you compare a vivo X-series with the iQOO, the vivo X-series stands for professional-level photography. So, anything which is new, absolutely top-class, absolutely innovative, will first go in the X-series, and then slowly it will come to iQOO as well. So, specifics of, what is there, what is not there, are very difficult to say, but at a large level, you can understand iQOO certainly takes the goodness of vivo into the iQOO camera.

Business Today: So, when are we seeing a 15 Pro with a ZEISS partnership?

Nipun Marya: I’ll take that as feedback (laughs). 

Business Today: Nipun, you obviously have made a fantastic device with an incredible amount of power. At this point, I have to ask, is there any game right now that you think can make the phone struggle?

Nipun Marya: I don't think so. In fact, we are looking forward to more games supporting ray tracing, because we believe we have made a phone which is truly capable of not just playing but also playing nicely. Because with this also, we have now added the game live stream assistant. For pro gamers and streamers, this was a major requirement, and no Android phone is able to solve it right now, so we have solved that as well. Hence, we think for any gamer, this is going to be a dream.

Business Today: Your favourite game that you like to play on  the iQOO 15?

Nipun Marya: If I have to play something on the iQOO 15, BGMI... maybe Subway Surfers someday.

Business Today: Finally, when you say "Monster Inside," what is the one thing, if you had to name just one, would you say is the “monster” inside the iQOO 15?

Nipun Marya: You know, refined performance: the supercomputing chip Q3 with the 8 Elite Gen 5.