iQOO Hackathon 2026
iQOO
📌About the Event
The iQOO Hackathon 2026 is a national phone-first innovation challenge for engineering students, developers, AI enthusiasts, programmers, and early-career IT professionals. Participants will build AI-powered solutions to real-world problems through a unique development format centred around the iQOO 15 smartphone. The competition features four 30-hour City Battles followed by a national Grand Finale in Bengaluru.
ℹ️ Event Details
- Theme: Phone-first AI innovation and real-world problem solving.
- Mode: Offline, multi-city hackathon series. The development workflow itself combines smartphone and laptop usage.
- City Battles: Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.
- Each City Battle is a 30-hour hackathon.
- Participants follow a Red Light – Green Light development format:
- Red Light: Build primarily using the iQOO smartphone.
- Green Light: Combine the smartphone and laptop workflow using iQOO Office Kit.
- Winning City Battle teams and selected participants from online registrations can qualify for the Grand Finale in Bengaluru.
- Registration is currently open.
📅 Important Dates
- Registrations opened: August 17, 2026.
- Bengaluru City Battle: August 29–30, 2026
- Pune City Battle: September 5–6, 2026
- Chennai City Battle: September 12–13, 2026
- Hyderabad City Battle: September 26–27, 2026
- Grand Finale, Bengaluru: October 9–11, 2026
🎯 Eligibility & Rules
- Eligibilty:
- Open to students and working professionals.
- Suitable for engineering students, young developers, programmers, AI enthusiasts and early IT professionals.
- Participants can register solo or in teams of up to 3 members.
- Participants under 18 may require parental/guardian consent for attending the physical event.
- Student and working-professional teams compete in separate participant buckets.
🏆 Benefits for the Participants
- ₹6 lakh prize pool at each City Battle.
- City-level prizes are divided between student and working-professional categories.
- ₹40 lakh prize pool at the Grand Finale.
- Participants receive AI credits to help develop their solutions.
- Access to guidance from 12+ industry mentors.
- Opportunity to collaborate and network with developers, AI builders and other young technology professionals.
- City Battle winners get an opportunity to compete for the national iQOO Hackathon 2026 Champion title in Bengaluru.