Poco M4 Pro review

2+1 cameras on the back, 16MP selfies

The Poco M4 Pro comes with an upgrade in the camera section over its 5G counterpart - and, no, we don't mean the added 2MP macro shooter. No, here you get a higher-res larger-sensor main camera - next to the OLED display, that's 2 in favor of the 4G version.

At the heart of that primary module is the OmniVision OV64b40 sensor - with an optical format of 1/2", 0.7µm pixel size and a 64MP resolution, it's a thoroughly better-specced imager than the 1/2.76", 0.64µm, 50MP Samsung S5KJN1 on the 5G model. It's a 4-cell design or OmniVision's branding for what Sony calls Quad Bayer. The sensor is mated to a 26mm equivalent lens with an f/1.8 aperture - same specs as on the M4 Pro 5G.

The ultrawide camera is, by the looks of it, the same - the reports it's using the Sony IMX355 sensor and the lens aperture is f/2.2. Field of view is listed at 118 degrees as opposed to the 119 degrees on the 5G model, but we reckon that's just creative marketing. Focus is fixed at infinity.

The new addition to this model is the 2MP 'macro' camera that's mostly good for upping the camera count, rather than actual picture-taking.

On the front, the phone says it's using the Sony IMX471, not the OmniVision one used on the 5G variant. You're still looking at a 16MP 1/3" sensor with 1.0µm pixels, and by the looks of it, it's still a Quad Bayer design. Focus is fixed on this one as well.

The camera app is the familiar MIUI implementation. Basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes (on the black bezel, not the viewfinder itself), and you can also tap on the modes you can see to switch to those directly. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras; only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.

You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can access that from the settings menu as well. The unused modes will still be in that More tab, but you can switch to a (less intuitive) pull-out pane that's summoned from a line next to the shutter release.

The hamburger menu at the far end of the screen is where you'll find additional options, plus the icon to access the settings. Here is where you should look for the 'Macro' mode instead of that More tab we mentioned above - a long-standing Xiaomi idiosyncrasy. Next to that hamburger menu, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle, shortcut to Google Lens, and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters.

On the near end, you have the camera zoom switch that operates in several different fashions. The first one is simply tapping on one of the three dots that represent the ultra-wide, primary, and 2x digital options. Or you can tap on the active magnification and choose one of several preset levels or use the slider for intermediate magnifications. That preset/slider combo also appears if you press and hold on one of the dots for the inactive zoom level.

There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself, and you can use it with both the main and the ultrawide cameras. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider, there's a manual focusing slider (with peaking as an option), and shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s for the main camera or 15s for the ultrawide) and ISO control (50 to 6400 for the main camera or 1600 for the ultrawide). A tiny live histogram is available, and a toggle for zebras can be found in the hamburger menu where focus peaking also is).

Camera UI

Daylight image quality

Daylight photos from the M4 Pro's main camera are among the better ones you can get for the money. In the default 16MP mode, they capture a lot of detail, and it's a meaningful step up from the Redmi Note 11 or Poco M4 Pro 5G's 12.5MP. We're willing to take the grain with the detail - noise is nowhere as bad as on the Redmi Note 11, but there is some.

Dynamic range is very good, though it's worth keeping an eye on the HDR toggle in the viewfinder (which also doubles as a status indicator) - it may not trigger on every occasion you'd want it to. Then again, you can just set it to the On position and forget about it - why is this not the default option, and why should it take up viewfinder space?

Color reproduction suffers no major issues, and you'd be getting lively images with pleasing hues. Occasional minor white balance missteps can be seen when you have large patches of gray asphalt in the scene - these can get a yellowish tinge, but it's hardly a deal-breaking offense.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Turning on AI will up the contrast, boost the colors, dial up the sharpening - it will basically add more pop, and that will generally be too much pop.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), AI on

At the 2x zoom level, you can expect decent results if you stick to fit-to-screen magnification. On a pixel level, you'd be looking at the combined effects of softness from digital zoom and heavy sharpening to try and mask it. Noise also becomes more prominent here.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

The full-res 64MP mode offers little in the way of detail benefits but does also make noise more easily visible.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 64MP

The 8MP ultrawide camera on the M4 Pro 5G was surprisingly good, but we then had less of a pleasant run-in with the Redmi Note 11's 8MP ultrawide, so we weren't quite sure what to expect from the M4 Pro (4G)'s unit. We'd say it ranks in between, a little closer to the other Poco.

We got significantly cleaner images here than on the Redmi, with lots of fine detail, particularly for an unassuming 8MP budget ultrawide. Dynamic range was okay - 'good enough' describes it well, but color reproduction was unenthusiastic - we liked the 5G's colors better.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Low-light image quality

There's no auto Night mode on the Poco M4 Pro like you'd find on higher-end Xiaomi phones, but it still puts out good-looking images at night with its main camera when considering the price class.

There's a fair amount of noise in these, but sharpness and detail are good, particularly in areas of the images with more balanced lighting. Bright point sources of light may be blown out, but well within reason and certainly not in an objectionable way. Colors, meanwhile, show no loss of saturation and are overall very pleasing.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

Night mode introduces some significant changes. It will bring down those blown-out highlights a little bit. It will, however, more prominently brighten shadows and lower mid-tones, which will lead to some extra developed detail there, but may also result in false color in particularly dark environments (like the third scene). A healthy helping of sharping is also applied.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night mode

At the 2x zoom level, photos show signs of softness and noise at fit to screen viewing, and things naturally look worse at 1:1.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Night mode does help a fair bit, and alongside the improved tonal development, you'd get sharper detail in the darker areas. These are still not amazing, but definitely better.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x), Night mode

The ultrawide is not loving the night one bit. It can't expose brightly enough, and captures images that are too dark for our liking. There's a prevailing softness to these photos, perhaps in no small part due to aggressive noise reduction since noise appears on the low side. If there was a camera that would benefit from Night mode, it would be this one, but it's sadly missing.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Poco M4 Pro stacks up against the competition.

Poco M4 Pro against the Poco M4 Pro 5G and Redmi Note 11 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

Portraits on the Poco M4 Pro have competent subject isolation, and even complex haristyles are rendered reasonably well. The default background blur level isn't over the top and makes for nicely natural-looking shots.

Portrait mode samples

Selfies

The M4 Pro's selfies are somewhat more detailed than those on the 5G version, and we reckon that's at least partly due to the different sensor. Granular is perhaps the word that best describes how detail is presented - it's not the prettiest of renditions, but it's okay. Dynamic range is very good, colors are pleasing - solid performance overall.

Selfie samples

Selfie portraits are pretty good too, particularly if you keep your hair in check - we observed no major issues with subject detection. HDR is available too, which isn't always a given, and it's much appreciated.

Selfie samples, Portrait mode

Closeups

Closeups out of the M4 Pro are unremarkable. While you can indeed shoot objects from a very close distance, there simply aren't enough pixels in the 2MP camera to capture a whole lot of detail.

Macro mode samples

Video recording

The M4 Pro has a rather basic video recording capabilities - it's capped at 1080p resolution at 30fps. That's the reality of the price tier, more or less, particularly over the last year where we've seen chipsets in certain series drop 4K even though previous generations had that.

Anyway, the Poco can do 1080p30 with the ultrawide camera as well, plus 1080p at 2x zoom shouldn't be an issue for the high-res sensor of the main camera. There's also stabilization in all modes, so not all is lost. A choice of h.264 and h.265 codecs is available too.

Video quality is neither here nor there - it's not amazing, and it's not properly bad either. The main camera's footage (20Mbps using the h.264 codec) is noise-free, and there's a decent level of detail, but it does have a certain overprocessed look to it. Dynamic range is fairly limited, and colors are somewhat dull and also have a yellowish cast.

At 2x zoom, the videos hold up well. They're not the absolute sharpest, but they do offer improved detail over the 1x zoom level. Global image properties remain the same as at the native zoom level.

The ultrawide camera's clips are similarly lacking in color pop, but at least there are no unwanted color casts. There's some noise to be seen, but pixel-level detail is actually very good for 1080p capture with such a wide field of view. It's certainly better than the 5G version.

Stabilization works okay on the main camera - it doesn't completely remove walking-induced shake but doesn't suffer from focus hunting caused by the shaking (a fairly common occurrence). It's also stable enough when the phone is pointed in one direction, and there are no issues when panning.

The ultrawide, meanwhile, manages to deal with walking better, possibly helped by the shorter focal length's inherent advantage.

Here's a glimpse of how the Poco M4 Pro compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Poco M4 Pro against the Poco M4 Pro 5G and Redmi Note 11 in our Video compare tool