Alongside the launch of the iQOO Z11, iQOO also brought out an affordable set of wireless earbuds dubbed simply the iQOO Buds. Available for ₹1,899, iQOO’s first pair of TWS earbuds clearly caters to mobile gamers, students, and daily commuters who just want dependable sound and endless battery life on a strict budget. You do not get a bunch of standard shade choices with this one. iQOO stuck strictly to a single Flame Yellow finish.
The sub-two-thousand-rupee audio category in India is packed with options that make tall promises on paper but quickly fall short in your hands. On paper, the iQOO Buds try to nail the basics: an ultra-light 3.8 gram build per earbud, dedicated gaming audio modes, modern Bluetooth 6.1 with low latency, and a headline fifty-hour total backup figure.
Over the past week, I kept these in my ears for just about everything, from quick BGMI sessions with friends to packed Delhi Metro rides and routine work calls. Here is my honest take on how they hold up and whether they deserve your cash.
Design & Comfort
The charging case comes with a clean matte finish across the exterior, featuring a USB Type-C charging port along the bottom edge and skipping any physical pairing button entirely. Flipping open the lid reveals iQOO's signature bright yellow accent, giving the Flame Yellow variant a punchy, premium contrast that punches well above its price tag.
However, living with the case daily revealed a major downside: the matte exterior acts as a pure fingerprint magnet, picking up dust and visible scuffs almost immediately. Within just a few days of stowing it away regularly in my pocket, my unit had already accumulated noticeable scratches. The hinge initially offered a pleasantly loud, satisfying snap when shutting, but after repeatedly opening and closing it over my test week, the mechanism is starting to feel a a bit loose.
As for the earbuds themselves, they adopt a contrasting glossy finish along their stems and housings. At just 3.8 grams each, they feel remarkably featherlight the moment you pop them in. The ergonomic fit turned out to be genuinely impressive during my testing. The buds locked securely inside my ear canals, and even when I was aggressively swinging my head around to test the grip, they never loosened or threatened to fall out. Because of how light they are, I did not run into any ear fatigue or any pressure points, even through continuous four-hour listening stretches.
The buds also carry an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance, which gave me complete peace of mind when sweating it out during workouts or whenever I got caught in sudden drizzles. Of course, you shouldn’t be jumping into a swimming pool with them in your ears.
Audio Quality
The iQOO Buds pack a custom 10mm moving coil driver inside. But let us be real here: at this budget, nobody is expecting reference-grade audiophile tuning. The iQOO Buds do not reinvent the wheel, but they do hold their own pretty well. Whenever I review any audio gear, my testing routine kicks-off with a mixed playlist across different genres to get a genuine feel for the drivers.
I threw plenty of vocal-forward tracks with acoustic strings and subtle keys at them, like Gehra Hua by Arijit Singh, Photograph by Ed Sheeran, and Phir Mohabbat by Mithoon. The overall output was more than passable for the price, but the mids and background instruments definitely felt a little muddy. As a bit of an audio nerd who enjoys hunting down hidden guitar riffs and subtle backing layers, I found myself missing those finer nuances that give acoustic songs their warmth and space.
That said, the buds really come alive the moment you switch over to bass-driven music. They punch way harder with low-end beats than they do with soft acoustics. I always queue up I'm an Albatraoz by AronChupa and Little Sis Nora to test bass rumble, and the thumping energy on these surprised me in a good way. Hip-hop and rap tracks had plenty of drive, even if the aggressive low-end occasionally swallowed up some high-frequency sparkle.
For binge-watching my favourite shows and movie marathons, they worked like a charm. I ended up streaming Avengers: Endgame on them, and the experience was solid. And yes, before you ask, I still rewatch that Avengers, Assemble! sequence over and over because it never gets old.
On the technical front, you are limited to basic AAC and SBC codecs. That is typical for this price category, considering premium codecs like LHDC rarely show up below the ₹3500-mark. There is no active noise cancellation here either. I cannot hold that against iQOO at this pricing, but navigating the noisy Delhi Metro definitely got chaotic when station announcements and tracks kept bleeding past the ear tips.
Where these buds truly caught me off guard was their ultra-low 42ms latency. Competing options like the CMF Buds Neo feel visibly slower in comparison, whereas the iQOO Buds kept footsteps and fast gunfights perfectly synced without missing a beat.
Call Quality
The iQOO Buds come equipped with a dual-microphone setup on each earbud, backed by environmental noise-cancelling algorithms. In my daily use, the voice clarity held up really well in relatively calm spots like a quiet office corner or a park with moderate foot traffic.
If you have ever read any of my previous reviews, you would know my go-to testing method is dialling a friend who is very finicky about how I sound on the receiver end. During calls from my office and evening walks in the park, he told me my voice came through crystal clear, with ambient rustle barely noticeable.
But when I took them into a noisy Delhi Metro coach, things changed quickly. My friend got pretty annoyed, bluntly mentioning that the mics were picking up the train clatter and crowd chatter louder than my actual voice. On my end, however, I could still hear him without straining. Given the entry-level pricing, this kind of environmental bleed in chaotic spaces is hardly unexpected.
On the upside, in-game voice chat during squad matches was flawless. My teammates heard callouts cleanly without any distracting background noise, making the overall call performance perfectly decent for the price.
Software Support
Setting up the iQOO Buds on my phone was smooth and hassle-free. The fast pairing pop-up card showed up right when I opened the lid, complete with an animated pet theme showing real-time battery levels for each bud and the case.
For non-Vivo iQOO users, you’ll have to get the vEarphones app on your phone. Honestly though, the setup is just as simple. I tested it on the Realme 14 Pro+.
Just keep in mind that using an iQOO phone gives you an edge within the ecosystem. You do miss out on a few extra features if you pair the buds with any other device, but that is standard practice across most brands today.
The capacitive touch controls along the stems felt genuinely responsive in my daily use, easily picking up double-taps and triple-taps for skipping tracks, adjusting volume, or handling incoming calls without phantom touches.
What I found super convenient was the Bluetooth 6.1 dual-device connection. I kept the buds connected to my laptop and smartphone simultaneously, and taking calls while watching videos on my computer worked seamlessly without any manual reconnecting.
The remote camera shutter shortcut came in surprisingly handy for group photos, and the Find My feature gave me quick peace of mind whenever I misplaced a bud around my desk. My only real gripe here is the missing in-ear detection. Taking a bud out will not auto-pause your music, which feels a little inconvenient during quick daily conversations. Still, for the price, the overall software package is practical and snappy.
Battery & Charging
If there is one area where the iQOO Buds completely won me over, it is battery endurance. With a 53mAh cell inside each earbud and a 525mAh battery in the charging case, the numbers translate directly into massive real-world stamina. During my testing week with volume set around 50 to 60 per cent, I easily pulled close to 11 hours of continuous music and video playback before the buds gave up, which is fairly close to the promised twelve-hour mark.
Combined with the charging case, you get up to fifty hours of total playback, meaning I only had to plug it into the wall once over my entire testing period. For my daily routine of podcast listening, commuting, and evening gaming, battery anxiety was practically non-existent.
When I did run the buds down, popping them into the case for just ten minutes gave me enough juice that lasted nearly over three and a half hours, which proved to be a lifesaver before heading out the door. A full recharge of both the case and the buds via the USB Type-C port took around two hours, which is quite reasonable given the marathon longevity you get in return.
Final Verdict: Should you buy it?
The iQOO Buds are built around a very specific set of priorities, and they do not try to fool you about it. You are not getting ANC here. You don’t get wear-detection, and that matte black case will definitely pick up scuffs the moment it shares a pocket with your keys. On top of that, if you take a phone call in a crowded Delhi Metro coach, the person on the other end is bound to complain about the noise.
But, you should still buy them, if you’re looking for a pair under ₹2000. Why? Because what they do well, they do really well. At just 3.8 grams, I could keep them plugged into my ears for hours on end without any discomfort or ear pain. If you play a lot of BGMI or Call of Duty, that 42ms low latency is legit and keeps every shot in sync. And honestly, not having to worry about charging them for almost two weeks of regular use is just super convenient. For ₹1,899, if battery life, gaming, and pure comfort matter most to you, these are easily worth picking up, especially if you’re on a tight budget.
