Here's when the iQOO 16 is rumored to launch outside China

The iQOO 16 went official in China back in late September, and earlier this month we heard that it's headed to India too. Today, a tipster on X claims to know exactly when that will happen. According to him, the iQOO 16 will launch in India around December 15-17.

If that's right, Indian fans will have to wait quite a bit longer than last year. The iQOO 15 was announced in China on October 20, 2025, and its international rollout started with India on November 26, a little over five weeks later. This time around, the gap would be closer to two and a half months.

The big question remains how much the iQOO 16 will cost. Over in China, it starts at CNY 5,999 (about $894), and a previous rumor claimed the Indian price could end up closer to INR 100,000 ($1,039). That would be a big jump from the iQOO 15, which started at INR 72,999 ($766) in India.

In case you need a refresher, the iQOO 16 comes with a 6.85-inch 1440x3168 Samsung-made M16 AMOLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate and 10,000-nit peak brightness, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, a 50MP main camera with OIS, a 50MP periscope telephoto with OIS and 3x optical zoom, a 50MP ultrawide with autofocus, a 32MP selfie camera, an 8,400 mAh battery with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging, IP68/IP69 ratings, and OriginOS 7 based on Android 17.