iQOO Z9s Pro performance comparison with Motorola Edge 50 Fusion and OnePlus Nord CE4: which mid-ranger offers the best performance?

The iQOO Z9s Pro is the latest mid-ranger in India, priced under Rs 25,000. The smartphone packs powerful hardware for its price and comes with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset, a 6.67-inch curved AMOLED display, a 5500mAh battery, and more. The price segment it occupies certainly has no lack of capable alternatives, including the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion (review) and the OnePlus Nord CE4 (review).

Both these phones are quite popular within this price segment and today we’ll conduct a three-way performance comparison between all three phones to find out which is the best-performing mid-ranger.

Here are the respective prices for all three phones and their storage variants (as per their official websites): 

Geekbench

Geekbench 6 is an industry-standard benchmarking tool that assesses the CPU performance of a smartphone. The CPU comparison of a smartphone relies on two main factors: the CPU itself and the total memory available. Both the iQOO Z9s Pro and the OnePlus Nord CE4 feature the same chipset, so their Geekbench scores are quite close. The iQOO Z9s Pro scored 1131 on the single-core test and 3074 on the multi-core test, while OnePlus Nord CE4 registered 1138 on the single-core test and 2950 on the multi-core test. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion lags slightly behind and registers 1020 on the single-core test and 2945 on the multi-core test. 

Single-core performance affects tasks like web browsing and app loading speeds, so you’ll get better performance in these tasks on the OnePlus Nord CE4. Tasks like gaming and photo/video editing rely on multi-core performance, and you’ll enjoy better performance on the iQOO Z9s Pro.

Winners: Single-core — OnePlus Nord CE4 & Multi-core — iQOO Z9s Pro  

AnTuTu

The AnTuTu benchmark test is a more comprehensive testing tool that assesses a smartphone’s overall performance. It measures the device’s CPU performance, GPU performance, Memory performance and User experience. The iQOO Z9s Pro and OnePlus Nord CE4 have almost equivalent aggregate scores on the test at 8,03,223 and 8,19,347, respectively. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion registers a lower aggregate score of 6,20,648 on the test.

The difference is substantial and stems from Motorola’s less capable SoC. As you can see, the OnePlus Nord CE4 attains much higher scores than the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion in aspects like CPU performance (269233 vs. 211792) and GPU performance (256488 vs. 120587). Going by the benchmark numbers, the OnePlus Nord CE4 will offer significantly better performance in GPU-reliant tasks like gaming and editing. 

Winner: OnePlus Nord CE4

CPU throttle test

The CPU throttle test assesses how stable a smartphone’s chipset is when performing under stress. We use the Burnout benchmark app, which pushes the phone to the point of thermal throttling and gives us a clear idea of its overall performance output.

The iQOO Z9s Pro shows a total performance output of 62 percent, while the OnePlus Nord CE4 showcases a better output of 73.1 percent despite having the same chipset. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion registers the best score among the three at 76.5 percent. All three phones offer decent performance output under throttling, and you’ll not face trouble with either of them in real-world usage. Going by the numbers, however, the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion remains ahead of the pack. 

Winner: Motorola Edge 50 Fusion 

Gaming test

For the gaming test, we played moderately demanding games like BGMI, COD: Mobile, and Real Racing 3 on all phones for 30 minutes each. All three phones support High graphical settings on both BGMI and COD: Mobile, and the iQOO Z9s Pro & OnePlus Nord CE4 even go up to ‘Very High’ graphics on COD: Mobile. With the iQOO Z9s Pro and OnePlus Nord CE4, you can expect a steady 50FPS average in COD: Mobile on high graphics, while the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion offers around 45FPS average.

In BGMI at “Ultra HDR” graphics, you can expect around 33-35FPS with the iQOO Z9s Pro and OnePlus Nord CE4. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion offers an average of 30FPS at the same graphical settings. The iQOO Z9s Pro took the lead in all three gaming sessions, with the highest average FPS among the three phones. 

Heat dissipation is another important factor for gaming devices. We noted the temperature increase while gaming in all three phones to see which device did the best job. The iQOO Z9s Pro showcased a total temperature increase of 22.7 degrees Celsius (7.5 degrees average), and the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion registered an increase of 19.1 degrees Celsius (6.4 degrees average). The OnePlus Nord CE4 registered the highest increase of 23.3 degrees Celsius ( 7.8 degrees average).

Winners: Gaming — iQOO Z9s Pro & Heat management — Motorola Edge 50 Fusion  

Verdict

All three phones offer their own unique advantages, but when it comes to performance, the iQOO Z9s Pro stands out as the clear winner. The phone remains in the lead for most performance tests, offering good benchmark numbers and the best gaming performance. The OnePlus Nord CE4 takes the runner-up spot and fiercely competes with the iQOO Z9s Pro. It’s only marginally behind the iQOO Z9s Pro in gaming performance and has either higher or equivalent benchmark scores.

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion’s comparatively lower performance output is not surprising since the smartphone’s processor is not as capable as its counterparts. However, the device offers the best performance output under stress and the most effective heat management, which is an important factor since it helps prolong a smartphone’s lifespan.

Smartphones tested by: Ujjwal Sharma & Aditya Pandey