Poco F6 review

Introduction and specs

The Poco F series is a highly anticipated smartphone series from Xiaomi's affordable sub-brand. The F family, in particular, is Poco's high-tier lineup. But from the first Poco F1 flagship killer back in the days, a lot of things have changed. Now, the F6 and F6 Pro can be classified as upper-midrangers. Price brackets aren't what they used to be.

A quick note, the Poco F6 is actually a rebranded Xiaomi Redmi Turbo 3, so if you ever come across this one, it's the same phone. We will continue to refer to the handset as Poco F6 throughout this review, but all review findings should apply to the Redmi Turbo 3 as well.

Xiaomi Poco F6 • Xiaomi Redmi Turbo 3

Still, the Poco F6 series retains some core values and offers high-end features and powerful hardware at a relatively competitive price. The vanilla F6 makes a good case for itself as it's the more affordable of the duo, but provides largely the same user experience as the Pro model.

Perhaps the centerpiece feature is the bright 6.67-inch OLED panel with support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and a QHD resolution. Sure, the panel is not unheard of in this price bracket, but Xiaomi didn't cut any corners in this regard, that's for sure.

Xiaomi Poco F6 specs at a glance:

• Body: 160.5x74.5x8.0mm, 179g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), plastic frame, plastic back; IP64, dust and water resistant.
• Display: 6.67" AMOLED, 68B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 500 nits (typ), 1200 nits (HBM), 2400 nits (peak), 1220x2712px resolution, 20.01:9 aspect ratio, 446ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8635 Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-X4 & 4x2.8 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 735.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 14, HyperOS.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.95", 0.8µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, 1/4.0", 1.12µm.
• Front camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, (wide), 0.8µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30/60fps.
• Battery: 5000mAh; 90W wired, PD3.0, 2-100% in 35 min (advertised).
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.4; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers; Virtual proximity sensing.

We also have the brand new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, which isn't based on an old SoC from Qualcomm's warehouse, but it's been designed from the ground up and should deliver flagship-like performance for the most part. The model also ships with 8GB/256GB UFS 4.0 memory by default, so performance shouldn't be an issue.

The Poco F6 also gets a modest upgrade in the camera department. A more modern 50MP solution replaces the dated 64MP main sensor and it comes with a wide f/1.6 aperture and is optically stabilized. The selfie camera is upgraded as well, now 20MP. Sadly, the 8MP ultrawide remains untouched.

And while the Poco F6 Pro boasts 120W charging, the F6 offers just as good a 90W charging solution, which is an upgrade over the previous generation with 67W. We test how big of a difference these 30W make in the real world.

So, without further ado, let's get into the nitty and gritty.

Unboxing the Xiaomi Poco F6

The Poco F6 comes in a standard box containing the usual user manuals, a USB-C to USB-A cable for charging and data transfer and the appropriate 90W charging brick.

Xiaomi also put a soft-touch, dark gray silicone case in there for extra protection.