Vivo iQOO 7 Legend brings BMW M brand, gaming specs to global markets

Over the past years, Vivo has been steadily rising in the smartphone market where it now belongs among the world's Top 5 phone brands. Just like any other big phone maker these days, Vivo also has its own sub-brand, the independent iQOO that's aiming for a younger market with different tastes and different needs. One of those needs is speed and performance, particularly for gaming. That's exactly what the new iQOO 7 series is promising to deliver, especially the iQOO 7 Legend that slaps on BMW's Motorsport name to emphasize its monster gaming specs.

The iQOO 7 Legend boasts of the latest Snapdragon 888 as the source of all its power, though the 4000 mAh with 66W Flash Charge support is the literal power source of the phone. 8 or 12 GB of LPDDR5 memory and 128 or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage also speak to its fast character. Lending a bit of credence to that is BMW M's tri-color scheme running down the phone's back, not just as a theme but as an integral part of its design.

The iQOO 7 Legend is built for gaming and not just because of its raw processing power. Under the 6.62-inch 120Hz FHD+ display lies special pressure-sensitive sensors that deliver a more tactile feedback when using on-screen controls. Dual linear motors on the left and right sides of the phone (when held horizontally) also try to recreate the feel of game controllers while Monster Beat dual speakers promise better audio fidelity that more discerning mobile gamers often look for.

Although not exactly underpowered, Vivo also has the iQOO 7 that looks and feels more like a traditional high-end premium flagship, one that runs on a Snapdragon 870 processor. It shares many similarities with its BMW-branded sibling, like the 48MP main camera with OIS and 13MP wide-angle and macro shooter. It does only get a 2MP monochrome depth sensor, though, instead of the iQOO 7 Legend's 13MP Pro Portrait camera.

Both phones run Vivo's Funtouch OS 11.1, based on Android 11, which brings with it its Extended RAM function that allocates 3GB of internal storage to be used as memory for caching running apps. After a successful launch in China, Vivo is bringing the iQOO 7 series to international markets starting with India. Availability and prices in other countries haven't been announced yet.