 "POCO X6 Pro 5G")
The advent of 2024 witnessed a surge in smartphone releases within the midrange segment. Noteworthy among these is the POCO X6 Pro, the flagship model in the POCO X6 series, which debuted in India on January 11. This smartphone marks the introduction of the Android 14 operating system-based Xiaomi HyperOS and the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra system-on-chip to the Indian market. Additionally, it stands out as the inaugural device in the POCO X-series to incorporate an in-display fingerprint sensor. Further enhancements include a revamped design, an upgraded camera system, and a next-generation storage and RAM configuration. At first glance, the POCO X6 Pro appears competitively priced, starting at Rs 26,999. Is it? Let us find out:
Design
The POCO X6 Pro boasts a minimalist yet distinctive design, particularly in the racing grey variant under review. This iteration features a glass finish with a glossy texture on the back cover. While visually appealing, the smooth, glossy texture renders the device susceptible to fingerprints and increases the risk of accidental drops. Notably, the extended rear camera island enhances the design without compromising usability, ensuring stability on flat surfaces.
On the sides, the phone has a flat plastic frame with a metallic finish. The frame incorporates power and volume rocker buttons on the right side, a secondary speaker, secondary microphone, and IR blaster on the top side, and a USB-C port, primary speaker, primary microphone, and a removable SIM slot on the bottom side.
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The front of the phone is dominated by a flat display with thin bezels, providing a sleek appearance. The absence of a plastic bracket ensures that the display sits seamlessly within the frame, facilitating natural use with gesture navigation. Overall, the phone's fit and finish are exemplary, and its lightweight construction, coupled with modest thickness, contributes to a superior user experience.
Display and audio
The POCO X6 Pro sports a 6.67-inch 1.5K (2712 x 1220) AMOLED display of 120Hz refresh rate. It is a 12-bit display (68 billion colours), but most importantly a bright one with support for Dolby Vision. Speaking of brightness, the display is touted to hit 1800 nits peak brightness levels. It essentially means good legibility in bright outdoor conditions and enhanced experience while watch high dynamic range content. In reality, the display on the POCO X6 Pro delivers optimal experience in both scenarios.
As for the generic use, the display is responsive and boasts accurate touch recognition. POCO has included multiple pre-set colour schemes, including the “Original Colour PRO” that calibrates the display to reproduce natural colours and tones.
POCO said the display can be operated with wet fingers, and it works as advertised. Though a small new addition, it adds to convenience in a big way.
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Complementing the dazzling display is the audio experience, powered by Dolby Atmos. The POCO X6 Pro has a pair of speakers for stereo output. While the speakers produce loud and clear audio, an imbalance exists, with the bottom-firing speaker outperforming the secondary speaker. Notably, the absence of a 3.5mm audio jack follows a trend observed in several brands.
Camera
The POCO X6 Pro introduces a new triple-camera system on the rear with optical image stabilisation on the main 64-megapixel camera sensor – a new and welcome addition to the line-up. The other two camera sensors on the rear and the front camera sensor, however, remain identical to the predecessor – 8MP ultra-wide-angle and a 2MP macro on the rear and 16MP on the front. That said, it is the main camera sensor driving the imaging experience for the POCO X6 Pro.
While not the best in its segment concerning image quality, the main camera performs adequately across lighting conditions, excelling in good light conditions with detailed, vibrant, and well-contrasted captures. The ultra-wide-angle lens is effective with ample light, featuring a 120-degree wide field-of-view suitable for cityscapes and landscapes. However, the macro lens proves challenging to use and often yields underwhelming results.
The front camera delivers satisfactory results and includes useful features such as beauty tools and colour filters. HDR support is present but is not as effective as with the rear cameras.
Software
The POCO X6 Pro boots the Android 14 operating system-based Xiaomi HyperOS. This user interface introduces several improvements, encompassing enhanced transition effects, customisable lock screen styles, new fingerprint animations, and AI-based object detection in photos with background alteration options.
Since the device runs the initial version of Xiaomi HyperOS, minor imperfections exist, such as the absence of setting options in the control centre and misalignment of the edit option. Additionally, some pre-set lock screen styles display Chinese text, though they can be edited to English. Object detection in photos using AI is not consistently precise.
Certain issues ingrained in the system, such as excessive bloatware and in-app advertisements, detract from the overall user experience and leave room for improvement.
Performance
Renowned for setting performance benchmarks, POCO continues this trend with the X6 Pro. Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8300-Ultra, paired with 12GB RAM (LPDDR5X), and 512GB storage (UFS 4.0), the POCO X6 Pro emerges as a performance powerhouse, delivering consistent performance even after prolonged use. Gaming performance, a core strength of POCO smartphones, remains impressive, though the device tends to heat up significantly during extended gaming sessions.
Battery and charging
With a 5,000 mAh battery, the POCO X6 Pro provides robust on-battery time, exceeding a day under regular usage. Demanding tasks such as extended video recording, multimedia editing, and gaming understandably deplete the battery faster. The 67W wired charging capability comes to the fore, recharging the battery in under an hour.
Verdict
While not flawless, the POCO X6 Pro merits consideration as a midrange smartphone. Its strengths lie in its refined design, vibrant display with thin bezels, robust stereo speakers, feature-rich camera system, highly customisable user interface, and top-tier performance. These attributes outweigh the weaknesses, primarily rooted in the user interface — an aspect that holds potential for improvement through firmware updates, should POCO choose to address them.
