iQOO Neo 6 offers slightly better performance in benchmarks.
Both phones bring similar cameras, with Poco F4 5G also offering OIS.
The Poco F4 5G has a slightly better design.
The sub Rs 30k segment of the smartphone market recently saw the entry of two new blockbuster phones — iQOO Neo 6 and the Poco F4 5G. Both offer similar core hardware but differ in design and some other ways. As Snapdragon 870 SoC totting devices, the two are primarily gaming focussed devices. However, they also offer enough in the other departments to help them emerge as good overall smartphones that offer a lot more than just powerful performance.
But, despite both being extremely good offerings, the all-important question still remains: Which of the two is the better buy? Well, let's try and answer this in this comparison of the two phones.
iQOO Neo 6 vs Poco F4 5G: Design
Let's start with the design. So, in this department, both devices adopt slightly different approaches, with the Neo 6 relying on curves, while the Poco F4 5G comes with a flat back panel. Of the two, the Poco F4's design language is more appealing to the eye, but that's only because I personally prefer flat-back phones. Otherwise, both the phones are equally good looking with the iQOO Neo 6 feeling slightly better in the hand because of its curves.
Thankfully, both the devices also keep things extremely simple at the back, with just the respective branding of the two brands and two-step camera modules on both phones finding space on the back panels of the devices.
On the front, both offer thin bezels and an edge-to-edge experience. The cutouts for the selfie lenses are also in the exact same spot. However, the one on the Poco F4 5G is slightly smaller. The biggest point of differentiation between the two, and the one that tilts things in Poco F4 5G's favour is the fact that the device comes with glass both at the front and the back. The iQOO Neo 6, despite feeling quite premium in the hand, only offers plastic at the back.
iQOO Neo 6 vs Poco F4 5G: Display
Moving on to the display, both offer similar experiences. This is because both devices use Full HD+ AMOLED panels with support for 120Hz refresh rates. Both these displays offer similar levels of brightness and are also equally vibrant and colour accurate. However, the panel on the iQOO Neo 6 appears to be tuned for more life-like colours, while the Poco F4 5G outputs slightly more over-saturated tones.
The Poco F4's panel is also slightly bigger. However, the difference is minimal as the F4 5G comes with a 6.67-inch panel while the iQOO Neo 6 gets a 6.62-inch display. As such, regardless of the phone you choose, the display on it will be good enough to handle all that you throw at it. But if your primary use is going to be watching a lot of content on Netflix and Hotstar, then bear in mind the Poco F4 also offers support for Dolby Vision giving it a unique advantage over its competition.
iQOO Neo 6 vs Poco F4 5G: Performance
This is where there's very little to choose between the two phones. The reason for this is the fact that both phones offer the same core hardware. As such, general performance on both is similar, with the devices also giving a similar performance in games. Both phones ran games such as Call Of Duty Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends without a hitch. This was mostly down to the Snapdragon 870 SoC which performs really well under load. The chipset's stable peaks help ensure the phone can give you good in-game performance and very little janks to ruin your experience.
In our testing, we also found both phones to not overheat, thereby helping with the overall experience of gaming on the devices. However, because of its curved back, gaming on the iQOO Neo 6 was an overall more enjoyable experience. The iQOO Neo 6 also has slightly louder speakers, which again improves the gaming experience on the device. But, moving away from gaming and on to benchmarks, there was some difference in performance between the two devices, with the iQOO Neo 6 surprisingly running away with a much higher score in AnTuTu. In this crucial test, the iQOO device clocked up 735172 points. In comparison, the Poco F4 5G only managed to score 684902 points. This difference in performance was also observed in 3DMark WildLife. But, in Geekbench both the phones ended up getting similar scores.
While the difference in scores does not suggest there will be a major difference in the real-world performance of the two phones, they do hint that in the long-term, the iQOO Neo 6 will offer better power-packed performance.
iQOO Neo 6 vs Poco F4 5G: Cameras
In terms of cameras, both phones offer a 64-megapixel primary lens on the back. However, there is little difference between the two. This is because the iQOO Neo 6 offers a Samsung GW1P sensor, while the Poco F4 5G flaunts an Omnivision sensor with a slightly better aperture. Working in tandem with the camera software, the Poco F4 5G ends up clicking slightly more vibrant shots, with punchier, oversaturated colours. The iQOO Neo 6 is tuned to click shots that look closer to what the eye sees in real life. Although, the difference in output is very minute and only noticed when pictures from the two lenses are opened next to each other. But where the Poco F4 5G takes the lead is that it offers a 3-axis OIS to stablise shots clicked using the primary camera. This helps it a lot in low light conditions.
Coming to the secondary lens, on both phones, these are 8-megapixel lenses that capture plenty of details and without much barrel distortion. However, for both these lenses, the performance levels of the above-mentioned lenses are only great in well-lit situations. In low-light scenarios, the performance suffers a little. Both phones also offer 2-megapixel macro sensors, but these are there just to make up the numbers, with the performance of the lenses not very satisfactory.
iQOO Neo 6 vs Poco F4 5G: Battery
Now let's get to the battery department. This is where some differentiation emerges between the two phones. And interestingly, it is not because the iQOO Neo 6 houses within its frame a large 4,700mAh battery, which on paper is bigger than the 4,500mAh battery on the Poco F4 5G. This is because in real-world scenarios both the devices offer similar run-time, with both the Poco and iQOO device easily giving over a day's use on a single charge.
The real difference between the two in this department is in the charging department, where the iQOO Neo 6 takes a slight lead because of its support for faster 80W fast charging — compared to 67W on the Poco F4 5G. While charging, this does make a slight impact, as the iQOO Neo 6 charges a little faster, going up to 100 per cent in about 30 minutes. For the Poco F4 5G, this number is slightly over 40 minutes.
iQOO Neo 6 vs Poco F4 5G: Verdict
Now on to the most important question, which of these two devices is the wiser choice? In my opinion, you can't really go wrong with either of the phones. Both offer very good value and spec sheets to blow away far more expensive phones. But, as always, there is a winner — even if it's by a very small margin. In this case, for us, it's the iQOO Neo 6.
But that's only because of its slightly better performance in the battery department and also its slightly superior results in benchmarks, where it outperforms the Poco F4 5G in certain tests. But these aside, it is a very close fight between the two devices, and if design and build quality are of importance to you, then you may find yourself being swayed towards choosing the Poco F4 5G.
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Sushant Talwar
Sushant Talwar is a full-time foodie who reviews cool gadgets and binges on TV shows when he is tired of playing video games. He is also in love with football and thinks Manchester United is a religion View Full Profile
