Design:
The Poco X6 5G is being helmed as the rebrand of the Redmi Note 13 Pro but in terms of design, it is different from the Note. The Poco X6 5G has a dual-tone design with a glass back panel and a square camera module at the back. I received the Snowstorm white color model and the device shone bright when sunlight fell on it. The rear panel has this marble-inspired finish which looks gorgeous. It has a glossy look and smooth finish but the good part is that the white part doesn’t catch smudges. Slight smudges can be seen on the black camera module portion, but you can easily wipe them off. The device has curved edges and feels light in hand. Although it doesn’t have a particularly sleek look, but it manages to fit in the palm of your hand for one-hand operation.
The rear panel houses a black square camera module that houses triple camera lenses and an LED flash. The protrusion of the sensors is noticeable, so much so that it makes the device wobble when kept on a flat surface. At the side of the sensors is the Poco branding and the text ‘64MP OIS’.
Let us talk about functionality next, the Poco X6 5G has volume rockers as well as a power button on the right edge while the left side is vacant. The bottom edge houses a SIM tray, USB-C port, and speaker grille while the top edge includes another speaker, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an IR blaster.
Display:
Poco X6 5G sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution. The display features slim bezels and a center punch hole cutout for the selfie camera. The display size feels adequate while watching content but this does not make the device uncomfortable to hold in hand. Not only is Poco offering 1.5K resolution, but it is the second phone in its segment to come with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, Redmi Note 13 Pro was the first one that made its debut last week. This ensures that the display is safe from accidental drops.
The Poco X6 5G supports 120Hz refresh rate and this can be felt while using the device as browsing and gaming are smooth. Content consumption is also a breeze on this smartphone as it supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ for best-quality visuals. I watched movies on Netflix and Hotstar and the viewing experience was good. Viewing angles were decent and so were the colors and details.
The most common problem with displays of mid-rangers is their brightness. The Poco X6 display can hit 1800 nits brightness level which ensures that the screen is visible indoors as well as outdoors under direct sunlight. The legibility was better than quite a few devices in this segment. In terms of audio, it has a dual stereo setup with Dolby Atmos support. The sound is loud enough to be heard across a medium-sized room but the problem is it loses character as the volume levels are increased. The audio quality till the volume is 60% is way better than what it becomes at 80%. The sound feels slightly distorted at higher volume levels.
Performance:
Poco X6 5G, like the Redmi Note 13 Pro, is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 SoC. It is a 4nm SoC unveiled in October 2023 as a successor to the Snapdragon 778G. During my usage, the chipset handled all day-to-day duties admirably. At times, over 10-12 programs were running in the background (including gaming and editing apps), however the Poco X6 displayed no stutters or lags.
While the Note 13 has a maximum storage capacity of 256GB, the Poco X6 edition that I received had 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB UFS 3.1 onboard storage. The RAM, combined with a Snapdragon 7s gen 2 CPU and an Adreno 710 GPU, meant that the smartphone ran well. Even during significantly longer gaming sessions, there were no lags or hang-ups. The device’s gallery has enough space to store papers, files, films, photographs, and audio thanks to its 512GB storage. The gadget was subjected to a variety of benchmarking tests, the results of which are presented below.
As for gaming, the device can handle heavy games like BGMI (with Ultra HD+ frame rates) and Call of Duty (with High and Max Frame rates) for an average of 20-30 minute sessions, but anything beyond that starts warming up the device and slow down the performance. Overall, Poco X6 5G mostly tackles everything you throw at it pretty well.
In terms of software, it comes pre-installed with MIUI 14 based on Android 13. This is unfortunate because most smartphones in 2024 will ship with Android 14 pre-installed. The Poco X6 Series will also receive an update to HyperOS, which is currently not running on the Poco X6. This is unfortunate for a device that costs more than $25,000. Although updates are expected soon, the smartphone will arrive with the same old MIUI interface.
Cameras:
Poco X6 5G sports a triple rear camera setup including a 64MP main, 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro lens. The front houses a 16MP snapper for selfies and video calls.
Let’s talk about the main 64MP camera first. Poco was given a 64MP camera earlier in the X4 Series as well and this time the performance of this sensor doesn’t disappoint. The images clicked in daylight are bright, crisp, and full of details. The colors look natural and rich and the dynamic range is impressive. Shadows looked warm and on zooming in there was no distortion around the edges. Low-light photography is decent as well. The camera UI is straightforward as well with HDR toggle, AI filters, and other options like panorama, slow motion, macro, etc.
The 8MP ultrawide angle camera can cover a vast scene and the shots still have detailing when zoomed in. The device supports 2X, and 4x zoom, and digital zoom goes all the way up to 10X. However, anything taken after 6X zoom-in loses details and starts accumulating noise. 2MP macro camera clicks close-up shots that include very little detailing and edge detection as there is no autofocus available. These shots are just about ok.
The Poco X6 can record 4K videos at 30fps and 1080p videos at 30/60/120fps. It comes with EIS and there are 12 in-built filters as well. Slow-motion videos are also supported at 120fps for 1080p.
Battery:
Poco X6 5G packs a similar 5100mAh battery as the Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G. With light usage, the battery easily lasts all day long. Light usage includes browsing social media, listening to music, surfing the internet, watching short videos, attending calls, messaging, and playing light games. However, if you have moderate to heavy usage including long gaming sessions, video editing, image editing, and watching content on OTT platforms then the battery will need to be recharged in 5-7 hours. Despite it being a 5100mAh battery, the device feels sleek, not bulky.
Conclusion:
The Poco X6 5G packs a punch in many major departments. The smartphone has a bright AMOLED display, a fast Snapdragon chipset, a large battery, fast charging, and a good-looking design. Although the camera setup is slightly underwhelming and UI comes loaded with bloatware, then these won’t be a problem for those whose focus is on having a performance-oriented device and not a camera-centric one (in which case you should opt for Redmi Note 13 Pro with a 200MP sensor). For a price of Rs. 25,999 Poco X6 5G is a decent mid-ranger that can easily last all day and has a durable build. The smartphone offers most of those features that one needs in a mid-budget device, making it one of the options to consider among Redmi Note 13 Pro, iqoo Z7 Pro, Moto Edge 40, and Realme 11 Pro.
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