Poco F6 Pro review

Two (plus one) cameras as before, new primary

The Poco F6 Pro has the same camera system as its predecessor - in principle, at least. Telephotos don't come on Pocos (other than that one exception) and the F6 Pro is in a similarly zoom-challenged position, with a wide main camera and an ultrawide sidekick. Also included is a basic dedicated macro unit, which is missing on the non-Pro.

The F6 Pro swaps out the 64MP main unit of the F5 Pro for a 50MP one, but before you dismiss it as a downgrade, bear in mind that the new sensor is a larger one - 1/1.55" instead of 1/2.0". The new lens is also brighter (f/1.6 vs. f/1.8), making the F6 Pro sound a lot more promising for low-light endeavors.

The 8MP ultrawide, on the other hand, is the same as on the F5 (the F5 Pro we had for review used a different sensor of the same type). This one is also shared with the F6 non-Pro. The 2MP macro unit is exclusive to the Pro though, for what that's worth (not a whole lot).

As for selfies, the Poco F6 Pro is also taking a different path compared to the plain F6, and it gets a 16MP front-facing camera instead of the 20MP one on the F6. They differ in their coverage too, with the Pro here having a more conventionally wide 24mm equivalent lens, while the vanilla model uses a wider 21mm lens.

• Wide (main): 50MP OmniVision OVX8000 (likely same as OV50E, 1/1.55", 1.0µm - 2.0µm), f/1.6, 24mm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; 8K@24fps, 4K@60/30/24fps
• Ultrawide: 8MP Sony IMX 355 (1/4.0", 1.12µm), f/2.2, 16mm, fixed focus; FullHD@30fps
• Macro: 2MP GalaxyCore GC02M1 (1/5.0", 1.75µm), f/2.4, 25mm, fixed focus
• Front camera: 16MP OmniVision OV16A (or GalaxyCore GC16B3) (1/3.1", 1.0µm-2.0µm), f/2.4, 24mm, fixed focus; FullHD@60/30fps

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The Poco F6 Pro captures quite great daylight photos with its primary camera. Detail is excellent - random textures are rendered in a relatively natural way, and there's minimal grain in the skies.

The auto exposure is dependable, and the wide dynamic range doesn't leave us wanting either. The auto white balance also worked without incident. Saturation is a bit on the high side - we do like plenty of pop in our photos, but if you're into more reserved colors, perhaps the default out-of-camera results of the F6 Pro may not be entirely to your liking.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Here's a handful of people shots to show you how the phone deals with skin tones - we'd say it does an excellent job here.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Portrait mode

As is often the case, the full-res mode doesn't bring notable improvements in captured detail.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

The 2x zoom button in the viewfinder will get you very usable digital zoom shots. In most cases they have an edge in per-pixel detail over the 50MP shots but they're not exactly pin sharp.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide's modest specs help set a relatively low bar for its results and with that in mind, we'd actually consider them quite good. 8MP is not a lot, but the Poco squeezes pretty solid pixel-level detail. Dynamic range is nicely wide, the white balance is on point, and the colors are pleasingly vivid - a touch below the main camera, which is mostly a good thing here.

The one complaint we could come up with is that because of the fixed focus you won't be getting sharp results with particularly close subjects. Then again, the depth of field is so large with this sensor size and lens that it's not that big of an issue - so long as you don't get any closer to your subject than we did with the Vespa, which we consider reasonably sharp given the circumstances.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera

'Macro' camera, closeups

As for closeups, the Poco F6 Pro is equipped with a 2MP 'macro' camera. We're hardly fans of these and we think they're being used to inflate the camera count for marketing purposes.

Daylight samples, 'macro' camera

You'd be way better off using the main camera at its minimum focusing distance. You could even use it at the 2x zoom level for higher magnification and still get vastly superior images than the 2MP 'macro' unit.

Main camera, closeups: 1x • 1x • 2x

Selfies

Selfies on the Poco F6 Pro are okay, but it won't be winning any contests. There's certainly not 16MP worth of detail, but if you won't be examining your pores from up close, you'll be fine. Colors, in general, are a little bland, but skin tones do at least have a certain level of life in them. Dynamic range is also pretty good.

Selfie samples

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

In low light, the Poco F6 Pro captures very good photos with its main camera. It applies some level of Night mode action automatically even if it doesn't always indicate it with the crescent pop-up in the viewfinder. The results are well-balanced exposures with good highlight preservation and shadow development. The dedicated Night mode might be able to protect highlights a little better, but it's not always the case, and when it is, it's only a small difference so we wouldn't say it's necessary. Detail is good, noise is well managed and colors don't suffer from desaturation.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

The 2x zoom level remains usable at night, so long as you don't expect miracles when pixel-peeping.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera's photos are along the same vein. They look relatively good from afar in terms of exposure and dynamic range, though colors can be a bit overly warm and saturated. You'll probably want to avoid overly zealous pixel-level examination though.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera

Video recording

The F6 Pro has quite the wide array of video recording modes for its primary camera. There's an 8K mode that works at 24fps, while 4K comes in 24fps, 30fps and 60fps flavors. The ultrawide maxes out at 1080p/30fps - there's no 60fps mode on that one. As usual, you get to pick between the default h.264 codec or the more efficient h.265 (which is the only option for the 8K mode). As usual on Xiaomis, stabilization is always on.

4K footage out of the main camera is very good. Bit rate is around 63Mbps for all three frame rates, while audio is encoded in stereo at a generous 320kbps. Things are sharp and detailed at both 30fps and 24fps, with the 60fps mode introducing a bit of softness, though it's not a dramatic drop in quality. The 8K mode is more for bragging rights and hardly worth the storage space (105Mbps, or roughly 800MB for a minute).

Either way, dynamic range is respectable (we think it shows in these pretty demanding overcast conditions). The colors have a slightly over-the-top take on saturation, but we'd still call them likeable.

The ultrawide camera's results are more in the meh category - the 1080p resolution doesn't make any promises for great quality and, indeed, even as 1080p goes, these are hardly the best results.

What's hard to complain about is the F6 Pro's stabilization, which is nothing short of excellent on both cameras - whether walking, or just pointing the phone in one direction, you'll get nicely stable clips, with trouble-free pans too.

In low-light, you can expect quite decent results from the main camera. Detail is okay, the exposure favors shadow development, but does still manage to maintain reasonable highlight preservation. Color rendition is also good.

The ultrawide camera, on the other hand, captures more of a general idea of the scene - there's hardly any image quality to speak of (and the auto night toggle that lowers frame rate to 24fps in hopes of getting more light per frame doesn't help much).

Video sample playlist

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.