The Poco F5 and F5 Pro are two favorite mid-range devices from last year and it's easy to see why: they punch above their weight in terms of performance and display quality. They obviously had some drawbacks, but the value for money they offered was excellent.
Now Xiaomi unveils the F6 duo that brings improvements in some areas where their F5 predecessors were lacking.
Small F6
The Xiaomi Poco F6 is equipped with a top-class chipset – the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. The new chipset is manufactured on a 4nm TSMC process and features the latest Cortex-X4 and Adreno 725 for all-round higher performance compared to the F5's 7+ Gen 2 chip.
The Poco F6 brings a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset
The base memory configuration is still 8/256 GB, but this year Xiaomi is offering more storage space with the optional upgrade to 12/512 GB (this is LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage).
The F5 screen had brilliant colors and it's not that the 1080p+ resolution was bad, but the F6 has a 1.5K screen (so it should be in the 1200p+ range). It's a 6.67-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 and Dolby Vision. It reaches up to 1,200 nits in high brightness mode, but peak brightness is 2,400 nits. The display uses 1,920 Hz high-frequency PWM dimming.
6.7-inch 1.5K OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate
Robustness is another area where the F5 was good, not great. The Poco F6 improves on that with an IP64 rating (up from IP53) and Gorilla Glass Victus (up from GG5).
One area that didn't get much love is the camera. The main module uses a Sony IMX882, a 50MP sensor with 0.7µm pixels (the same pixel size as the previous model's 64MP sensor). However, OIS is still on board. The 8MP camera is pretty much the same as last year. The selfie camera did receive a small upgrade to a 20 MP sensor (was 16 MP).
Poco F6 Colorways: Black • Green • Titanium
Just like last year, the F6 brings stereo speakers, but unfortunately there is no 3.5mm headphone jack this time. Other connectivity features include NFC (region dependent) and an IR blaster.
F6 upgrades to 90W wired charging (charger included)
Finally, the F5 had a pretty solid battery with a 5,000mAh capacity and 67W charging power, the F6 sweetens the pot with a faster 90W charging speed (still wired only).
Poco F6 Pro
The Poco F6 Pro is a premium model and has several key advantages over its vanilla sibling. For starters, it uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. Even though it's a generation older than the 8s, it has the better GPU and higher clock speeds keep the CPU competitive. As for the F5 Pro, it had the older 8+ Gen 1 chipset, so this is a real generational improvement.
Poco F6 Pro with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
The memory configurations are 12/256 GB and 12/512 GB and now there is also a 16 GB/1 TB option (although that is reserved for certain markets). This is LPDD5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage again.
Up to 16 GB RAM and 1 TB storage
Another upgrade over the F6 is the sharper 6.67 1440p+ screen with a higher peak brightness of 4,000 nits (high brightness mode is still 1,200 nits) and faster 3,840 Hz PWM dimming. This is a 12-bit OLED panel, by the way.
6.67” QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate
Xiaomi has rethought the battery configuration this year. The F6 Pro has a 5,000mAh battery with 120W fast charging (both Pocos come with the appropriate charger in the box). It charges fully in just 19 minutes, but wireless charging is reduced – by comparison, the F5 Pro had a 5,160 mAh battery with 67W wired and 30W wireless charging.
The 5,000 mAh battery can be charged to 100% in 19 minutes
The camera is a decent upgrade over last year's model, but this isn't a camera phone. The main module features a 50 MP sensor with larger 1.0 µm sensors (up from 64 MP 0.7 µm) and has a brighter f/1.6 aperture (vs. f/1.8) with OIS on board. The ultrawide is still a basic 8MP unit and there is no telephoto module, the selfie camera has a 16MP sensor.
A new 50 MP camera with larger pixels and a brighter aperture
Strangely, Xiaomi doesn't mention anything about the screen glass or the phone's dust and water protection (the F5 Pro had IP53).
Poco F6 Pro Colorways: Black and White
The Poco F6 is available today with the base model (8/256 GB) priced at $380, while the version with upgraded memory (12/512 GB) costs $430. That said, early bird buyers will actually get these models for $340 and $380 respectively. The F6 will be available from multiple retailers and carriers (and Xiaomi itself, of course). In the UKXiaomi's online store has prices from £400 (currently discounted to £340) for the 8/256GB memory and £450 (down to £370) for the 12/512GB memory. In Germany the two versions cost €450 (up to €390) and €500 (up to €420). It is also available on Amazon Germany.
The Poco F6 Pro is also launching today and will cost $500 for the 12/256 GB model, $550 for 12/512 GB and $630 for 16 GB/1 TB. However, initial sales will be $50 less than those prices. In Germany the 12/256GB Pro costs €500 Amazon and the 12/512GB costs €550.
In India, Flipkart will start selling the Poco F6 on May 29. Regular prices are ₹30,000 for the 8/256 GB model, ₹32,000 for the 12/256 GB model and ₹34,000 for the top 12/512 GB variant. However, the initial retail prices will be ₹4,000 lower. And the icing on the cake is an extended warranty of 1+1 years. The Pro model is not coming to India.
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