with so many Excellent mid-range smartphones available now, how to choose? Every year, Xiaomi’s Poco range exceeds hardware expectations, and the Poco F6 and F6 Pro are no exception. The Poco F6 Pro (£499) struggles to justify the Pro label, but the cheaper Poco F6 (£399) is an absolute bargain (even more so if you got the early bird price of £339). You’ll be hard-pressed to find this processing power or display quality elsewhere without paying more.
Xiaomi routinely rebrands affordable phones released in China under its Redmi brand as Poco phones for Europe and the rest of the world, although they are not sold in the United States. Poco quickly earned a reputation for value and the F6 is a prime example of why. It ticks all the boxes with a gorgeous screen, snappy performance, capable camera and fast charging, although the software and battery life let it down a bit.
The Poco F6 could be the perfect phone for gamers on a budget this year and it has almost no compromises. The Pro isn’t worth the extra money, so I’ll focus on the Poco F6 in this review, but I’ll delve into the differences below.
Identity crisis
The design is perhaps the least interesting thing about these phones, but it is also the most obvious difference. The Poco F6 is all plastic, with a flat frame, a glossy, gently curved back that shows no finger smudges, and two huge camera lenses at the top left flanked by a smaller flash. My review unit is a beautiful green, but it also comes in black or golden beige which Xiaomi calls titanium.
The F6 Pro has an aluminum frame and a glass back with a marble effect finish. My review unit is black, but you can also opt for white. The camera module is much larger, spanning almost the entire top of the F6 Pro, with three medium-sized lenses and a flash in a symmetrical grid of four. The F6 Pro is a little thicker and heavier than its brother, and is clearly the more expensive of the two, although I prefer the F6. Poco branding is thankfully subtle. That said, none of the designs are very interesting.
Photography: Simon Hill
Both phones have an under-screen fingerprint sensor and it worked well for me, usually unlocking the first time. But it’s oddly low compared to other phones, so I had to adjust my thumb position over and over again. Interestingly, the F6 has a higher IP64 rating for water resistance and Gorilla Glass Victus to protect the screen, while the F6 Pro is IP54 and has the older Gorilla Glass 5.
These phones are almost identical in size and both feature a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, although you need to enable it in the display settings. The distinction is resolution, with the F6 Pro at 3200 x 1440 pixels and the F6 at 2712 x 1220 pixels, and the F6 Pro is supposed to be a little brighter. Even side by side, I couldn’t see much difference. Both screens are sharp and bright enough for outdoor viewing. These are solid phones for watching movies (if you must watch movies on your phone) with stereo speakers and support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
