Vivo debuted the V29 5G series smartphones in India yesterday, out of which the base model called Vivo V29 has been positioned in the same segment as the iQOO Neo 7 Pro, the top-notch mid-ranger from the Vivo sub-brand we reviewed a couple of months back. Does the Vivo smartphone have enough firepower to take on its own sub-brand’s device, or is it on self-destruction mode in front of iQOO with this one? Let’s find out.
Display
As design is a subjective topic, we’ll start with the display. The V29 5G has a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED Display with a 1.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 1300 nits peak brightness, and an in-display optical fingerprint scanner. On the other hand, the iQOO Neo 7 Pro also gets the same sized 6.78-inch E5 AMOLED Display with a FHD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels) resolution, HDR10+ support, up to 1500 nits brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate.
While the display on the Vivo V29 5G is more sharper with a higher resolution, the panel on iQOO’s device is brighter. While the Resolution difference won’t be visible easily in daily usage, the brightness difference will be. Even then, we would give this a tie. In real-world usage, both panels should suffice most of your needs.
Performance
The Vivo V29 5G draws power from the years-old Snapdragon 778G chipset, while the iQOO Neo 7 Pro has the flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. While both of them are reliable and proven to be one of the best, they are being equipped in the same price segment, making the 8+ Gen 1 a choice miles better than the 778G.
The RAM & storage variants for both smartphones remain the same. But there’s yet another notable difference here: the iQOO device uses LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage compared to LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. The better RAM and storage modules on the Neo 7 Pro also perform better. Both of them run on identical software, which is FunTouch OS 13 based on Android 13, and they will receive two years of major OS upgrades.
Battery & Cameras
The Vivo device packs a 4600mAh battery that charges at 80W speeds. The iQOO Neo 7 Pro has a bigger 5000mAh battery and charges at 120W speeds, making it the better one of the two. It performed exceptionally during our review as well.
As for the cameras, both of them have triple rear cameras, whereas the V29 5G has a 50MP OIS-enabled f/2.45 primary lens, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro unit. The Neo 7 Pro gets a 50-megapixel f/1.88 Samsung GN5 primary sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle sensor and a 2-megapixel f/2.4 macro sensor. It further features a 16-megapixel f/2.45 camera on the front.
The sensor setup remains identical on both, but software optimisations would play a key role in determining which one clicks better photos. We’ll give this round a tie as we are only considering on-paper specifications.
Verdict
The Vivo V29 starts at Rs 32,999, while the iQOO smartphone starts at Rs 34,999. However, the top model of V29 is priced at Rs 36,999 while iQOO’s is sold for Rs 37,999. The difference of a thousand bucks gives you a much better experience overall on the iQOO Neo 7 Pro making the Vivo V29 5G look overpriced.
