2023 Winners and losers: Xiaomi

25 December 2023
The best and the worst of Xiaomi throughout 2023.

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Batteri Voltas, 27 Dec 2023The F5 and F5 Pro were very good phones but they essentiall... moreAs someone who is now using a Poco F5, I am criticising GSMArena for saying that the Poco F5 is a loser for Xiaomi. Right, so the Poco might have been too conventional this year. But that conventionality also meant reliability for the tried-and-tested formula: cut corners on the aspects where it doesn't matter much, and provide the best possible hardware with an adequately good software, then the others become bonuses at very competitive pricing.

Can they improve things on the Poco? Yes for sure. But contrary to what GSMArena has said, the Poco F5 series is FAR from being a loser. Heck, it is even a WINNER in my book by just how crazy the sales are for these devices. In tbe local store where I bought mine, they only had a limited stock because of how great seller this device is. So now tell me that that is a loser phone from Poco.

    rizki1, 26 Dec 2023almost everything on Xiaomi is a winner for me, but if GSMA... moreOf course you would say that. You are a biased massive Xiaomi fanboy who thinks they can do no wrong based on your previous comments. You would need to try other phones to be able to make a good judgment but my guess is you will always buy Xiaomi regardless. Xiaomi has good phones and good value ones but not all of them are good or good value. Also value depends on the country. A phone that is priced well in your country might not be priced well in somebody else's country so people will have different perspectives on that

      The F5 and F5 Pro were very good phones but they essentially carried Poco this year. The lineup overall was still mid.

      People here get really salty whenever someone even DARES making a criticism of Poco

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • 7Xj
        • 26 Dec 2023

        Another L take from GSMArena. These guys contradict themselves so much. After praising the F5 and thrashing the A54 in their long-term reviews, the Poco F5 series is suddenly a loser while the A54 is a winner. My God, what the actual hell are you guys doing?

          Bodygard, 26 Dec 2023You might wanna check gsmarena review of the F5 then. Becau... moreYeah, I know, but every camera comparison I watched on YouTube demonstrated that the Poco F5 took very ordinary stills from its primary camera. It's not the first time that GSMA has got a camera review wrong. I remembering purchasing the Xiaomi Mi 11 5G Lite and despite GSMA's glowing review of the camera, it was terrible.

          From now on, I'll stick with Sony sensors, as Samsung and OmniVision sensors on midrange phones seem to perform poorly in comparison.

            • G
            • Gaia
            • Y7W
            • 26 Dec 2023

            The Poco series is definitely not in their best moment, but dang, how is the F5 unimpressive? We can't have everything for the >$300 it costs. The camera set isn't a big deal definitely, but it's not an unusable mess.

              LoneOwl, 26 Dec 2023The point is these guys didnt say Poco F5 is a loser. This... moreLoser: Xiaomi Poco series (including F5).

              What do people want for the 300 price? i'm not saying there are not aspects that can't be improved but the price will surely go up and then people will complain about the price.
              Talk about A54: how is it acceptable that a phone which costs 400 is laggy and stutter in scrolling right after you buy it? i think that is more serious fault than what Poco is doing.

              Again, in their review, they said this: "the phone excels in more than one area, the screen is great with all the HDR certifications, battery life is solid, charging speed is competitive, camera quality is surprisingly good (except for the Night mode and the selfies), performance is unrivaled even by more expensive phones thanks to the brand new SD 7+ Gen 2, loudspeakers are decent enough, and design and ergonomics are excellent. Bonus points for being IP53-rated, offering flagship-level haptics and having an OIS on the main camera."

              I rest my case.

                Poco F5 is super phone without major complaint.And F5 has super specifications.

                  Bodygard, 26 Dec 2023You can find it easily going for 300 in stores from Spain f... moreThe point is these guys didnt say Poco F5 is a loser.
                  This is what they said

                  '''This year's Poco lineup is somewhat dull, even the top-end Poco F5 and F5 Pro phones. Neither truly impressed and they lack decent camera hardware, even when you factor in the price tag.
                  The more affordable Pocos are also far from ideal when it comes to hardware. Most run on really old SoCs and even within their own family, they frequently pale in comparison to the Redmi Note 12 series.'''

                  And gsmarena is right. Poco with F series, needs to try more instead of just offering the best chip and fast charging.

                  Also, how about Poco starts offering better software support, like other companies do??
                  Oneplus for example offers 3years of OS updates.
                  Xiaomi on 13T offers 4.
                  Why is Poco offering only 2 on Poco F5 pro for example?
                  This is 2023/2024. People arent into custom roms like many years ago.

                    I mean sure you can complain the lack of hardware in Poco, but if you compare the price ratio with other manufacturers, they are not losing. Who's even there to compete with them?

                      LoneOwl, 26 Dec 2023Poco F5 in Europe starts at 400 btw(8/256). Also while it ... moreYou can find it easily going for 300 in stores from Spain for example. If you pay 400 you're getting ripped off.
                      A more brighter display that's debatable, i think both do around 1000nits. And the F5 is dolby vision certified while the A54 isn't. I'd say the screens are equally good. The F5 also has a 3.5mm which is a plus to some people and ir port.
                      The point here was these guys saying F5 is a loser. It's not. It's a great phone and btw has a great comunity with lot of software support with different roms and will last years because the performance is top notch. Can't say the same about the A54 which i bet after some software updates will be laggy.

                        LoneOwl, 26 Dec 2023Poco F5 in Europe starts at 400 btw(8/256). Also while it ... moreBetter build quality cause Poco is plastic while what the A54 is made out of ? Some magic materials ? A54 have plastic frame and glass back. that glass back is not actually better then plastic and it's just a lid on the frame.

                        Also is there some statistics on what has better UI ? There are people who have been with Samsung all there lives and think that all other UI just sux. Normies dont care about UI. For me UI is just something that makes the phones different as they can look different only by OS on modern day.

                        Double the software support cost you 150-200 euro if we compare A54 with it's performance that is similar to Poco X5 Pro.
                        Also what is more capable camera on A54 over F5 ??? Is that the 480fps slow motion that makes the camera more capable ? In specs for A54 it shows 4K in 30fps while F5 can do 60 fps in 4K. Or at least can do when you install google cam on it.

                        ""Samsung A54 has according to most""
                        Who are these according to most ?? Most people dont give voice to anything. It's only a really really minority part of population who go to state there opinion over specs in internet forums

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                          • szk
                          • J1T
                          • 26 Dec 2023

                          LoneOwl, 26 Dec 2023Poco F5 in Europe starts at 400 btw(8/256). Also while it ... more"a better android skin" - not for me, Samsung will never have such a fluid phone at this price
                          "a more capable camera" - cameras are pretty much equal I think
                          "IP67" why do I need that? IP53 was perfectly enough for me the last 10 years. Also I question how the warranty will cover if your phone take in water
                          "brighter display" why is 1000 nit is not enough??
                          "Poco f5 is plastic" why is that bad? Phone is in the case all time.
                          The only thing the A54 has over the F5 is the longer support. I wonder how slow the A54 will be after 3-4 years.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 6kd
                            • 26 Dec 2023

                            I would have bought the 13 Ultra at a heartbeat if it would gave come to ny country.
                            Unfortunately Xiaomi is loosing it's market in Finland due to "supporting russian in their war" as retailers are not making restocks.

                              As for Xiaomi phones in 2023, the Xiaomi Redmi note 12 series got a lot of negativity around them, so they are for sure not winners.

                              Same story with Poco phones. Yes Poco F5 was a good choice for what it offered(especially on a discount), but the rest of the Poco phones were really forgettable/uninteresting.

                              Xiaomi 13T on the other hand deserves some honorable mention. First Xiaomi device (13T/Pro)with 4years of OS updates, and IP68 at this price range.

                              Also the Leica partnership is working out with Xiaomi, and the overall Xiaomi 13 series camera wise.

                              They just need more competitive pricing.

                                Bodygard, 25 Dec 2023Poco F5 a loser? Really, now i'm sure you guys are not... morePoco F5 in Europe starts at 400 btw(8/256).
                                Also while it does have faster charging(and charger in the box)than A54, and Snap 7+ destroys exynos,
                                Samsung A54 has according to most
                                +a better android skin(OneUI)
                                +has double the software support of Poco F5
                                +a more capable camera
                                +IP67
                                +brighter display
                                +better build quality(Poco f5 is plastic)

                                Also keep in mind the author did mention all Poco phones not just F5.

                                  pl2rts, 26 Dec 2023If i buy a phone for my mother then she wont care about the... morethat strategy doesn't work and fails when they match the price, same story with Xiaomi or Huawei, I mean people used to buy Huawei flagships for their superior cameras, but Xiaomi cameras are far behind Pixel or even Samsung, so what would be the point spending same money to get inferior phone

                                  OnePlus never sold any volume, completely irelevant market share

                                    Pumpino, 26 Dec 2023The Poco F5 is a loser in the sense that it's not a gr... moreYou might wanna check gsmarena review of the F5 then. Because they say the photos are pretty decent. What we are criticizing here is the lack of consistency of what they say.
                                    The nord3 is better but it costs much more (400+) and nothing 1 is older, less performance etc

                                      I think Xiaomi phones keep getting better. I must say, I find it hard to look past the poco f series. I bought a Redmi 8 pro 2-3 years ago. That year, it was judged one of the best phones for what it offered that year by many writers. That was then....I upgraded to a poco f3. Brilliant phone. Of course, we us people have a running joke about "economies of scale...". I could only get it with 6 GB ram. It's enough. Is it enough for the f4, with > billion colours and Dolby vision? It's always the b'sht relativism. My spend is about $400 to $500 AUD. I go to Australia best mobile. It's hard to look past the poco f5 or the 11/12/13 lite. It depends what one values most and thinks for and decides for oneself. Stay away from extended ram. Australia best mobile have Redmi note 12 pro + for $400. Bargain. No true HDR 10+. I prefer poco to Redmi because the Redmis always have relatively weak soc's.

                                        Aan2007, 26 Dec 2023Someone still buy Xiaomi phones? When I had to recommend... moreIf i buy a phone for my mother then she wont care about the OS skin on it. All she wants is to get more compact size phone and that be it. also she dont want apple iphone as she got offered to have work phone and she refused it cause it was iphone.

                                        Also Xiaomi is still value for the money. Compare any Samsung, Sony, Oppo, Vivo phone performance and price with Xiaomi note and Poco series on the same performance range then all of them are more expensive then Xiaomi phones.

                                        Also the price get to a point like other brand phones is totally normal. They made there name known to everyone with the same strategy used before by others. Like Huawei started with lower price then other brands and made there name in the world. Same with OnePlus as the first flagship killer sold really well and made a name for it's self and from second or 3rd phone price went up to a point of other brands flagships

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