Priced at ₹21,999, the Poco X6 5G proves its worth. Through testing, it emerges as a mid-range killer with a stunning display and smooth performance. Powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, it seamlessly handles games and applications. While the low-light camera stands out, overall camera performance, including the front camera, impresses. Although battery consumption could be improved, the smartphone shines with its remarkable fast-charging feature, making it a standout device.
Poco is going wild on budget and mid-range smartphones. I have been using the Poco X6 5G for about a month now, and I have to say that currently, this is the best smartphone under ₹25,000. It was launched in India at a starting price of ₹21,999 (19,999 including bank offers), and the Poco X6 5G doesn’t only take on its competitors but also smartphones that are priced higher than this one. From a lightweight design to high-speed performance, the Poco X6 5G impressed me a lot. This is my full review of the Poco X6 5G, where I will tell you its many pros and some cons as well. Let’s go!
Poco X6 5G Design: Looks attractive
By the looks of it, the Poco X6 5G is a good-looking smartphone. It has a flat-edged design and a glass body attached to a plastic mid-frame. This smartphone comes in two colours, Mirror Black and Snowstorm White. I am using the Mirror Black variant that looks stunning but there is one thing that should be improved here, I will come to it later.
On the back, it has a big and lifted square camera module that houses a triple camera setup and an LED flash. There are two big circular camera rings placed vertically to each other and a small one on the right. Alongside the camera module, we see a “Poco” branding and “64MP OIS” are mentioned. On the bottom left corner, the back also states a “5G” branding.
Onto its mid-frame, the Poco X6 5G features the power button and volume rockers on the right panel. At the bottom, you get the SIM tray, a microphone, a USB-C port, and the speaker grille. Surprisingly, this smartphone comes with a stereo speaker arrangement and also supports Dolby Atmos. It has the other speaker grill at the top along with an IR Blaster, a secondary mic for noise cancellation, and we even get a 3.5mm headphone jack! I mean, what else could be there?
On the front, you get a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera and an in-display fingerprint sensor. The edges are sharp enough, so it doesn’t slip through your hands easily.
With a good-looking design, there’s a drawback too. The back of the smartphone tends to catch a lot of fingerprints. The smartphone looks dirty when it gets all smudgy. The edges of the camera module and even the camera rings get filled with dust and are so difficult to clean. Why does this happen? There are two reasons; A. The glass is too glossy and B. the colour is too dark. So, with the Snowstorm White variant, it might not get this much dirty. Along with that, you don’t get any protection here since it’s a glass back. But you do get a decent rubber case out of the box, so that covers it.
Poco X6 5G Display: Oh Wow!
The Poco X6 5G is equipped with a 6.67-inch 1.5K AMOLED display. This display supports 68B colours, Dolby Vision, and up to 120Hz refresh rate. Now, there are two things that I really liked about its display, considering it’s a budget smartphone.
First, this display is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. For those who don’t know, the Gorilla Glass Victus is a feature we usually get in high-end smartphones. Second is the brightness of this display. Poco claims that the Poco X6 5G has 1800 nits of peak brightness. This means that the brightest pixel on this display has 1800 nits of brightness. I did the lux meter testing on its display and it resulted in 1001 nits of peak brightness. Now, let me tell you this is a very good number. For context, a display brightness of around 400 nits is considered decent for budget smartphones.
Speaking of its refresh rate, the display is also quite responsive because of its 120Hz refresh rate. The 120Hz refresh rate enhances both the gaming and the streaming experience in the Poco X6 5G.
Poco X6 5G performance: Smooth and powerful
The Poco X6 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, which is paired with up to 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. The performance is outstanding. It’s been a month and I haven’t faced any lag or performance issues in the Poco X6 5G.
Considering the price range, the Poco X6 5G is equipped with a value-for-money processor. Mid-range smartphones such as Realme 12 Pro Plus and Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus pack this processor. Both are the latest smartphones and both are more expensive. The Realme 12 Pro+ launched in India at ₹29,999 and the Redmi Note 13 Pro is priced at ₹25,999. The Poco X6 5G is the most affordable smartphone among the three that comes with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip. The processor has four big cores clocked at 2.40GHz and four efficiency cores clocked at 1.95GHz.
I did some gaming on this smartphone and wow! What a smooth experience. I played Call of Duty: Mobile on ‘High’ graphic quality and ‘Max’ frame rate. The game was running smoothly without any lags for a prolonged period. However, while playing BGMI on high graphics settings, I faced some lags here and there. But if you play BGMI on “Smooth/Extreme” settings, it works perfectly fine.
If you are a gamer and want to buy a budget smartphone, the Poco X6 5G is the best smartphone for gaming in this segment. Why? During benchmark tests, I compared it with other budget smartphones. Let me tell you, the Poco X6 5G smoked the competition in synthetic benchmark tests. Here are the results:
Let’s talk about its User Interface, which we also call ‘UI.’ The Poco X6 5G runs on MIUI 14, based on Android 13 OS. The smartphone will soon get the Android 14-based HyperOS upgrade. This is the latest Xiaomi UI that launched last year with loads of upgrades. Although the MIUI 14 in this smartphone is just fine, (yes, there’s a ‘but’ as usual) the smartphone comes with a lot of pre-installed unwanted apps, which we also call Bloatware.
Along with that, there is also one feature that I don’t like in Poco and Xiaomi smartphones. This is the ‘Glance for Mi,’ which can be turned off also but on default settings, it is turned on. The Glance for Mi displays ads, news, and wallpapers on your lock screen. If you wish to turn it off, go to Settings > Display > Always-on display & Lock screen > Glance for Mi > Turn off.
Furthermore, the MIUI 14 works decently with this smartphone, providing a whole lot of features. The features that you want to make your smartphone experience more accessible and advanced.
Poco X6 5G Camera: Good, but needs a little improvement
The camera performance of the Poco X6 5G is really good. This is one thing I enjoyed in this smartphone along with the gaming. It comes with a triple camera setup on the back, holding a 64-megapixel main camera with PDAF and OIS support, an 8-megapixel Ultrawide lens, and a 2-megapixel Macro sensor.
The 64-megapixel sensor captures pretty colourful pictures and does not smoothen them. Speaking of the quality, the pictures reflect good details and sharpness. However, it does leave a little warm tone in the pictures but that’s only when you are clicking pictures in the sunlight.
The portrait mode in this smartphone is also brilliant. When I said this smartphone competes with the mid-range smartphones, it really does! As you can see in these portrait shots, the edge detection and the details are really good. Even with the front camera, the portrait shots are acceptable.
Coming to low-light photography, it is one thing that really needs to be fixed in budget smartphones. The same goes for the Poco X6 5G. But it still has some ground to stand in low-light photography. The Poco X6 5G smoothens low-light pictures a lot and the dynamic range doesn’t look good. If you are using the ‘Night Mode,’ pictures become a bit crisp but then the colours are displaced. Along with that, the Night Mode also leaves a warm hue in the pictures. However, external lighting in low-light conditions improved the night pictures a lot. Here are some samples of low-light photography with good external lighting and without it.
The front camera captures decent pictures under low light. The 16-megapixel selfie shooter works so well that it can compete with your iPhone 14 under low-light conditions. Yes, you heard that right. If you think I am lying, judge for yourself.
The Poco X6 5G captures colourful and detailed selfies. One good thing, it doesn’t smoothen the pictures by default as most smartphones in this range mess up selfies by leaving a milky effect in pictures.
Poco X6 5G is a battery guzzler
A 5000mAh battery powers the Poco X6 5G. The battery life on this smartphone felt a little out of place. I ran some battery tests on the smartphone and surprisingly they consumed way more juice than I expected. Let’s talk about them:
- Firstly, I watched a high-resolution video on this smartphone for 30 minutes. This resulted in a 13% drop in battery.
- Then I played Call of Duty: Mobile for 15 mins on high-graphics settings. This consumed 6% of the battery. A 3-4% percent drop in 15 minutes of Call of Duty: Mobile is considered to be a good number, do the maths now!
- Lastly, I used the GPS for one hour, resulting in an 8% drop. Here, the consumption was a little more normal than the other two, but still not very satisfying.
These tests show that consumption is not as good as we get in other smartphones under ₹25,000. The Poco X6 5G eats the battery like anything but the charging is super impressive. It comes with a 67-watt fast charging support. I charged it from 0-100% in just 44 minutes. So, a 20-minute charge would be enough for you to use it for a whole day. The battery consumption is indeed bad, but the fast charging has compensated really well while I was using the smartphone.
Verdict
The Poco X6 5G launched in India with its big brother, the Poco X6 5G Pro. Both smartphones roll out in the Indian market as competition that even pricier phones are afraid of. The Poco X6 5G launched in India at a starting price of ₹21,999, and believe me this smartphone is worth every penny. According to my testing and experience, the Poco X6 5G is a proper mid-range killer. Its beautiful and responsive display is as good as a sub-35K smartphone’s display. The processor is also a mid-range chipset, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 runs games and other apps smoothly. The low-light camera is an exception, but otherwise, the camera is brilliant including the front camera. Coming to its battery, it’s one thing that Poco should focus on. If that’s fixed….this smartphone is such a gem. However, I really loved the fast charging in this smartphone.
POCO X6 5G Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | 11 Jan, 2024 |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
Storage
512 GB
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Battery capacity (mAh)
5100
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Rear Camera Megapixel
64 + 8 + 2
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Screen size (in inches)
6.67
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Mustafa Khan
Mustafa is new on the block and is a tech geek who is currently working with Digit as a News Writer. He tests the new gadgets that come on board and writes for the news desk. He has found his way with words and you can count on him when in need of tech advice. No judgement. He is based out of Delhi, he’s your person for good photos, good food recommendations, and to know about anything GenZ. View Full Profile
