iQoo 12 will soon be launched in India, and the upcoming smartphone will be the first smartphone to debut in the country with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. Aside from being powered by Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset, the company is also touting another important aspect of a flagship-grade smartphone — camera performance. High-end smartphones these days are expected to feature good primary, wide-angle, and telephoto cameras. I recently spent some time at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and had some time to test the iQoo 12 before it was launched in India on December 12.

Before discussing my early impressions of the camera on the upcoming smartphone, it’s worth going over its rear camera specifications. The company has equipped the iQoo 12 with a 50-megapixel camera with phase detection autofocus (PDAF), optical image stabilisation (OIS), and an f/1.7 aperture. It also has a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with an f/2.0 aperture. Finally, it has a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom along with PDAF, OIS and a f/2.6 aperture.

iQoo 12 primary and telephoto portrait camera samples (tap to expand image)

During the brief time I spent with the iQoo 12, I found that the primary camera is capable of capturing clear images with ample lighting, while colour reproduction appears to be reliable — these images were captured on a cloudy morning after a night of unexpected rainfall. Portrait images with the telephoto camera appear to have a stronger bokeh effect compared to those taken with the primary camera. However, the cutouts are accurate, and I didn’t find any smudging around the edges of the subjects.

While the ultra-wide-angle camera on the iQoo 12 captures clear photos, I noticed a slight amount of warping at the edges of the images, but nothing that should make you want to take a few steps back and capture a photo with the primary camera. This is something that will need to be tested further, so make sure to keep an eye out for our complete review of the smartphone and its cameras.

iQoo 12 telephoto camera samples (tap to expand image)

The telephoto camera on the iQoo 12 seems to perform reliably — based on the few shots I was able to capture with the phone in Jaisalmer. You can see how the camera is capable of capturing very clear images at up to 10x zoom, while the images at 30x zoom are mostly clear while preserving ample detail.

I noticed that while capturing images with the telephoto camera, the iQoo 12 allowed me to click images of objects far away, up to 30x, without much effort. I wasn’t using a tripod, so I had to move the phone around a little so it was focused on the subject before tapping the shutter button. The phone lets you click images at 100x zoom, but you’re better off using a tripod if you want to click pictures with this mode — all I could capture were blurry images of remote subjects.

iQoo 12 telephoto camera samples (tap to expand image)

Another thing that became apparent while capturing images with the iQoo 12 is the change in colour temperature while switching cameras — different zoom levels use different cameras on the phone. As a result, photos of some subjects appeared cooler or warmer depending on which camera was in use. However, this could change with upcoming software updates when the phone is launched.

Macro photography on the iQoo 12 seems quite reliable — you can capture images of objects using the telephoto camera, and the results seem pretty sharp and detailed. I’m looking forward to seeing how the camera performs in different scenarios — they’ll be part of the full review that’s coming at a later date.

iQoo 12 telephoto macro camera samples (tap to expand image)

It’s worth noting that iQoo is yet to launch the smartphone in the country officially — the phone is scheduled to debut in India on December 12. These are early impressions of the smartphone, and I’ll be spending more time with the handset before any conclusive verdict on its performance and reliability. iQoo could also roll out a few software updates for the handset that could resolve some of the issues I found during my brief time with the phone earlier this week.

Disclosure: iQoo sponsored the correspondent’s flights and hotel for the event in Rajasthan.