iQOO 16 Ultra May Not Happen This Year — Here's the Reason Behind It
IQOOMonday, 29 June 2026 at 12:08
iQOO built real momentum with its Ultra lineup. The iQOO 15 Ultra and 15T both launched earlier this year in China, following a strong iQOO 15 debut back in October. Now, a fresh leak from tipster Digital Chat Station suggests the next chapter might skip a beat. The iQOO 16 Ultra — the model many fans were expecting — may not arrive this generation at all.
Summary
- iQOO 16 Ultra may be skipped: DCS says the company is planning to pause the Ultra tier for one full generation rather than launch it alongside the iQOO 16.
- Rising memory prices are the main reason: DCS pointed directly to the cost of RAM as the driving factor behind the decision.
- The Ultra line was never on a fixed schedule: iQOO had previously said Ultra models only arrive when there's a real technological leap to justify one.
- iQOO 16 still launching in October: Alongside the Neo 12, running Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, respectively.
- iQOO 16 may be the only global flagship this year: No Neo-branded phones are planned for markets outside China in 2026.
Why Memory Prices Are Driving This Decision
This isn't an isolated story. Memory and storage prices have been climbing across the entire industry this year, and phone makers everywhere are adjusting their plans because of it. DCS, replying directly to a reader's question, confirmed that rising RAM costs are the main reason behind skipping the iQOO 16 Ultra. That tracks with what's already happening elsewhere — Apple is reportedly facing similar pressure on its own upcoming chips, and other Android brands have started raising prices on flagship phones for the exact same reason.
The Ultra tier was never built around an annual schedule in the first place. iQOO previously stated that new Ultra models would only show up when the brand had something genuinely new to offer — not just a yearly refresh for the sake of it. That gives the company room to skip a cycle without technically breaking a promise. It also means the decision might be less about cutting a planned device and more about simply not rushing one out before it's ready.
What Happens to the Ultra Tier Now
If this holds, the iQOO 16 series launches without a flagship-with-a-fan companion model. The next Ultra device could land alongside the iQOO 17, or the gap could stretch even further depending on when iQOO feels it has a meaningful upgrade worth shipping. Earlier leaks from April had already described an iQOO 16 Ultra with a built-in cooling fan and new gaming accessories in development — so the groundwork existed. Whether that project gets shelved entirely or simply delayed is still unclear.
Read also
What's Actually Coming From iQOO This Year
The roadmap ahead of October is busy. The iQOO Z11i launches July 3 in China as an affordable 5G option. The Dimensity 9500-powered Neo 11S follows later in July. Then in October, the iQOO 16 and Neo 12 arrive together — the 16 running the higher-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, the Neo 12 sticking with the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Early engineering leaks for the iQOO 16 point to a 50MP main camera on a 1/1.3-inch sensor, a battery over 8,000mAh, and a 2K display running between 165Hz and 185Hz.
A Smaller Global Footprint This Year
For buyers outside China, the picture is narrower than usual. iQOO reportedly has no plans to bring any Neo-branded device to global markets this year, which leaves the iQOO 16 as the brand's only flagship expected to launch in multiple countries. The iQOO 16T, meanwhile, is now tipped for the first half of 2027 rather than this year — another sign that iQOO's release calendar is shifting in response to the same cost pressures affecting the rest of the industry.
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