Poco X6 Pro review

Competition

The Poco X6 Pro occupies a rather specific spot in the midrange with a focus on performance as a top priority. It does so while also maintaining a competitive level in other key areas, though it's not like it's unchallenged.

A relatively obvious option in the segment is the Galaxy A54 - one of the more competent all-rounders for the money. In its favor, we have the IP67 rating, a slightly better camera system in most ways, a microSD slot, and Samsung's One UI. The Poco counters with higher performance, faster charging, and a superior display.

Some trade-offs can be expected in a battle between the Poco and the Motorola Edge 40 Neo. The Poco adds longevity to its list of pros in this comparison, next to its vastly superior chipset, but the gap in display quality is now smaller, and charging speed is a tie between these two. The Moto's camera's is even better, we'd say, and its IP68 rating scores it some extra points, plus the 170g weight can be appealing in its own right.

A Pixel 7a loses to the Poco in most measurable ways - display quality, battery life, charging speed. The Google phone's camera performance is possibly objectively better, but it will definitely win subjectively for the right crowd, and the Google-specific Android is also one of those hard to quantify advantages. The Tensor G2 chip is no slouch next to the Poco's Dimensity, and the Pixel is the first on this list to have wireless charging, slow as it may be.

Alternatively, you could entertain the idea of a Poco X6 non-Pro. You'll be saving some money, sure, and that's probably the best that the X6 has going for it. Well, that, and a mysteriously brighter display, which is as good as the Pro's in all the other ways. But the Pro's significantly more powerful chipset, longer battery life, better camera performance, and newer OS make the monetary savings questionable.

Samsung Galaxy A54 • Motorola Edge 40 Neo • Google Pixel 7a • Xiaomi Poco X6

Verdict

Apparently, 8MP is all the resolution Xiaomi will expend to Pocos' ultrawide cameras, so stills will be somewhat limited in their detail and 4K video is a no-go. The fact that stabilization is a bit shaky on the main camera is another imaging-related gripe that we have with this model.

Also in the gripes category is the smudge fest on the back of our review unit, though you could work around it by going for the yellow colorway or using the bundled case. Normally, we wouldn't have scoffed at an IP54 rating, but as it turns out the competition's dust and water game is a notch up and the X6 Pro isn't quite as protected.

But the Poco's greatness shines brightest on the front, where the thoroughly excellent display tops things off nicely with Dolby Vision playback - a most welcome rarity. The speedy charging complements a solid battery life result too.

A key selling point for the X6 Pro is the chipset has power to spare and actually comes in a package that's not a one-trick pony. There's also the evolution from an already widely loved MIUI into an ever so slightly nicer HyperOS. The largely unremarkable camera hardware, meanwhile, turns in pretty great stills, with a knack on low-light shooting that's not to be overlooked.

In the end, we'd say the Poco X6 Pro does a few things exceptionally, many things very well, and falls short in only a few areas. That makes it an easy recommendation in our book.

Pros

• Great display - sharp, bright, with a high refresh rate, and also Dolby Vision support.
• Charging speed towards the top of the class.
• HyperOS brings some cool new features to liven up the MIUI of old.
• Unrivaled performance in the market segment.
• Great results from the main camera in good light and especially at night.

Cons

• The glossy black back is a fingerprint nightmare.
• IP54 is nice, but a lot of the competitors have better dust and water protection.
• Video stabilization isn't great, the 8MP ultrawide doesn't have the pixels for 4K capture.