Poco X6 Pro review

Two and a half cameras on the back

The X6 Pro packs a relatively standard camera setup with no truly standout hardware. An 8MP ultrawide joins the main 64MP camera, which is also tasked with zooming in - there's no telephoto, of course. What the phone does have in addition to those two is a 2MP 'macro' camera.

The primary camera is based on the OV64B sensor - a 64MP OmniVision chip with a 1/2.0" optical format, 0.7µm pixels, and a 4-cell filter array (Quad Bayer). The lens that goes with it has a 25mm equivalent focal length and an f/1.7 aperture, and it's stabilized.

The ultrawide camera is based on the OV08D - a distinctly more modest 8MP unit with a 1/4.4" optical format and 1.0µm pixels. This one has a fixed-focus lens with a focal length equivalent to 16mm and an f/2.2 aperture.

Over on the front, there's a 16MP selfie camera built around the OV16A sensor - this one has a 16MP resolution, a 1/3.06" optical format, and 1.0µm pixels.

Camera app and features

The HyperOS camera app is just like the MIUI camera app of recent times and in turn similar to pretty much any maker's camera app. Basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes as expected, and you can also tap on the modes that you can see to switch to those directly. 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.

At the far end of the viewfinder, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, and a cog wheel for the settings menu. There is also a pull-out menu from the top of the camera UI where you'll find additional options, including the Macro mode, grid lines, aspect ratio and timer.

The previously added Teleprompter Video mode is here to stay. You can paste your video script here and read it easily while you capture your video.

On the near end, you have the camera zoom switch that maxes out at a sensible 2x on the X6 Pro, while the X6 has a 4x button too, for some reason.

There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself. 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 and ISO control with ranges depending on which camera you're using.

Camera UI

Daylight photo quality

Daylight photos from the X6 Pro's main camera are solid. Detail level is good, though it's not the most pleasing rendition of random textures, and there's some grittiness in areas of uniform color.

Speaking of color, the auto white balance tends to give an extra bit of warmth to outdoor shots - not necessarily a bad thing, but not particularly accurate either. Saturation is good, though.

Dynamic range gets an okay mark too - not great, not terrible, with highlights in contrastier scenes sometimes being more blown out than what we're used to.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

The full-res mode brings no meaningful improvement in the level of captured detail.

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

The 2x zoom level, on the other hand, does produce nice results. Even if it's once again not the most natural looking rendition, the amount of fine detail is a very pleasant surprise.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

The ultrawide camera on the X6 Pro delivers another so-so performance. Detail is okay for the 8MP resolution, but dynamic range is fairly limited, particularly at the highlight end. Colors are a bit anemic too.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Low-light photo quality

The X6 Pro does have some auto Night mode implementation, but we only saw that kicking in very dark situations - our usual scenes didn't really qualify. In that sense, we have two sets of images - one in Photo mode with no explicit auto Night mode action, and one in Night mode.

That said, there's only minimal differences in the results between the two modes - on the main camera, at least. We're getting well exposed images with good development in the shadow areas, and slightly harsh, but still acceptable highlight treatment. There's plenty of detail and noise is well contained.

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

Every now and then, Night mode might lift the shadows a bit - the building on the left in the first scene is notably brighter in the Night mode rendition than in Photo mode. In general, however, we wouldn't say there's a pattern of behavior that sets one mode apart from the other.

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

At 2x zoom, there remains little to separate both modes. The results are quite likeable, though there's a bit of smoothening of fine textures and detail. It's not too bad though - once again the X6 Pro actually delivers better than expected zoom shots.

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

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

The utlrawide camera's output in the dark isn't too bad, all things considered. The photos aren't the sharpest, but they're sharp enough. Dynamic range is good, and color rendtion is okay, if a little muted - as was already the case in daylight. There's not a whole lot of difference between Photo and Night mode either.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x), Photo mode

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x), Night mode

Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Poco X6 Pro stacks up against the competition.

Poco X6 Pro against the Motorola Edge 40 Neo and the Galaxy A54 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

Portrait mode on the X6 Pro captures images in the main camera's native field of view - there's no zoom selector here. The subject detection works very well and the default blur is relatively convincing.

Portrait mode samples

Close-ups

The half of a camera that completes the X6 Pro's setup is the 2MP one for close-ups. Its results are underwhelming, with little real detail and bland colors.

'Macro' samples

Selfies

Selfies from the X6 Pro are okay, though not without their faults. Detail is decent, but definitely not up to the 16MP standard. White balance is off more often than not, both indoors and outdoors, though the phone somehow manages to maintain a likeable skin tone presentation most of the time. Dynamic range is pretty great.

Selfie samples

Video recording

The Poco X6 Pro can record video up to 4K30 with its main camera, and it also offers 4K24 capture as well. It does allow for 1080p60 capture too, if you'd like to trade resolution for frame rate in a certain situation. The ultrawide camera is capped at 1080p30.

The main camera captures okay 4K video. Contrast is a bit too high for its own good, resulting in relatively harsh tonal extremes, but the overall exposure is good. The auto white balance remains off as well, though saturation is pretty likeable. While a bit artificial-looking, detail is quite good. There's no difference between 30fps and 24fps in terms of quality either.

Clips shot at the 2x zoom level maintain the overall look of 1x, it's just that they're not as sharp when viewed from up close. Still, as 2x zoom clips go, these are on the good side of average.

The ultrawide camera does a better job with white balance, though it falls behind in saturation. Dynamic range is so-so, detail is pretty good - for 1080p, that is.

Stabilization is always on on the Poco X6 Pro, but it's not the best of implementations. The main camera's footage captured while walking suffers from focus hunting at almost every step, which is pretty annoying. Pans are generally smooth, though not entirely immune to hunting either.

The ultrawide does a better job in this respect - fixed focus can be a good thing in some cases.

In low light, the main camera records videos with respectable quality for the class. Detail is good, dynamic range is okay, there's no loss in color saturation. Ideally, you'd have a tripod though.

The ultrawide's low-light videos are averagely bad - that is to say, they're soft and noisy, but that's more or less par for the course.

Here's a glimpse of how the Poco X6 Pro compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Poco X6 Pro against the Motorola Edge 40 Neo and the Galaxy A54 in our Video compare tool