The iQOO 15T only landed a couple of months back, yet the rumor mill has already spun up around its successor. Reliable tipster Digital Chat Station (DCS) has offered an early peek at what silicon might power the iQOO 16T — and the answer is delightfully unsettled.
According to DCS, the iQOO 16T is currently being tested with the 2nm SM8950 chip, widely believed to be the yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. If that pans out, it would put the T-series firmly in flagship-tier territory, riding one of the most advanced process nodes we’ve seen in a phone SoC.
But Qualcomm isn’t the only name in the frame. The same tipster claims MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 is also on the shortlist. That’s not unusual for iQOO’s T-series, which has historically played the field between Qualcomm and MediaTek depending on availability, cost and regional strategy. It also means the final chipset could differ from market to market — a common outcome once these devices actually ship.
A quick word of caution: this is a chip that’s still in testing, paired with a rumored processor that hasn’t been officially revealed. In other words, everything here sits squarely in the realm of speculation. Chip choices during the prototype phase have a habit of shifting before a phone reaches production, so treat both candidates as possibilities rather than promises.
Timing is the other open question. The iQOO 16 is rumored to arrive in September, but the 16T’s schedule is far murkier. With the iQOO 15T having debuted so recently, there’s a decent chance the 16T won’t surface this year at all. iQOO tends to space out its numbered and T-branded releases, and squeezing another T-model into an already crowded lineup would be a tight fit.
What we do know is that the T-series has quietly become one of iQOO’s more interesting subplots. It’s the range where the company experiments with big batteries, large displays and aggressive pricing, often delivering flagship-adjacent performance without the flagship sticker shock. If the 16T does end up with a 2nm chip — from either camp — it would be a notable statement about how far down the stack cutting-edge silicon is trickling.
For now, though, this is a single tip about a chipset choice that hasn’t been finalized, for a phone without a confirmed launch window. It’s an intriguing early signal rather than a spec sheet. We’ll be watching to see whether the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 or the Dimensity 9600 wins out — and whether the iQOO 16T shows up sooner than the calendar suggests.
