iQOO Just Put a 10,000mAh Battery Inside an 8.59mm Phone

iQOO has launched the Z11S in China, and there is one spec that stands out right away. This is the company's first phone with a huge 10,000mAh battery, yet it is only 8.59mm thick and weighs 225 grams. That's quite impressive when you consider that the Galaxy S26 Ultra is only 11 grams lighter with half the battery capacity.

The Z11S is still a mid-range phone, though, and its starting price of 1,999 yuan makes that clear. So where did iQOO make the cuts?

The battery is easily the star of the show. iQOO worked with CATL on a high-density cell that uses second-generation semi-solid battery tech and a new internal design called Magic Cube Packaging 2.0. The result is a 10,000mAh battery inside a phone that doesn't look like a brick.

Here's the thing, though. Charging tops out at just 44W, which feels rather slow for a battery this large. Filling 10,000mAh will take some time, but I suspect most users won't care if the phone can easily make it through two days.

To be honest, I would take that trade any day. Fast charging is great, but not having to think about a charger in the first place is even better.

The rest of the hardware is pretty good for the price. The Z11S uses MediaTek's Dimensity 7500, built on TSMC's N4P process. iQOO claims around 1.31 million points in AnTuTu V11 and a 24% boost in single-core speed.

On the front is a 6.83-inch AMOLED display with 2800 x 1260 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. It also offers 10-bit color, full-brightness DC dimming and up to 2,000 nits of full-screen brightness. Those are solid numbers for a phone at this price.

There had to be a catch somewhere, and we find it around the back. Despite what looks like a dual-camera design, the Z11S has only one real rear camera. It is a 50MP sensor with an f/1.8 lens, while the other opening houses an infrared sensor. An 8MP autofocus camera handles selfies.

I can live with that. I would rather have one decent camera than three cheap sensors added just to fill the back of the phone.

The iQOO Z11S starts at 1,999 yuan for 8GB/128GB and goes up to 2,899 yuan for 12GB/512GB. There is no word on a global launch yet.

For me, though, the real story isn't the price or even the 144Hz display. It's that iQOO managed to put a 10,000mAh battery inside a normal 8.59mm phone. If this is where mid-range phones are heading, I am all for it.