Back in August, Poco launched one of the cheapest 5G smartphones in India, disrupting the budget segment for good. We reviewed the Poco M6 Pro 5G soon after it launched and found it to be a gritty device that was well worth the money. Now, the Chinese manufacturer has launched a non-Pro model of the M6 5G, priced at Rs 10,499. The price point of this smartphone is quite interesting as the base model of the Pro variant costs just Rs 500 more. So, let’s take a deep dive into the specs, design, and performance of the device and see how it holds up. Here is our review of the Poco M6 5G.
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In This Article
Poco M6 5G: Design and Display
The unboxing experience of the Poco M6 5G is pretty standard. Inside the signature yellow Poco retail box, you get the smartphone, a 10W power adapter (even though the phone supports 18W charging), a USB Type-C charging cable, and a quick start guide. Surprisingly, the package doesn’t ship with a plastic cover or case for the device.
In terms of design, the Poco M6 5G mimics its Pro variant. The back panel sports a dual-tone colour theme and gets glass protection which also elevates its in-hand feel. The smartphone is available in two colour variants – Orion Blue and Galactic Black. We used the latter for this review. Black seems to be the right choice here for those who don’t want a garish smartphone in their hands. The top section around the camera arrangement is covered in a deeper shade of black and flaunts the Poco branding.
The two cameras get individual cutouts surrounded by plastic rings. A ring-less solitary LED flash is positioned next to the cameras. While the glass back contributes to the premium factor and distinguishes the smartphone from other budget offerings, it tends to accumulate fingerprints and smudges far too easily. A tradeoff we are willing to accept. We’d suggest keeping a microfibre cloth handy as some dust can settle between the two camera rings and can be tricky to clear using just your fingers.
The left edge of the plastic frame houses the volume rocker keys and the power button. The primary microphone, USB Type-C slot, and speaker grille are positioned at the bottom. At the top edge of the frame lies the 3.5mm headphone jack (we don’t get to say that quite often). The hybrid SIM slot is present on the left edge, which is otherwise keyless. Poco claims the M6 5G is dust and splash resistant but it doesn’t have an IP rating like its Pro variant (IP53).
The 6.74-inch IPS LCD display has a refresh rate of 90Hz and a 720 x 1600p resolution. 500 nits of peak brightness is optimum when you’re indoors, but falls short under direct sunlight. The slim bezels around the display get thicker around the chin. The phone’s wide form factor is ideal for watching content but can be a little challenging for one-handed use. We played content across several streaming apps and found the experience to be acceptable. The images produced on the display were bright, sharp, and detailed. With Widevine L1 certification, the smartphone can play HD videos effortlessly. In comparison, the display of the M6 Pro 5G is slightly larger (6.79 inches) and has a 1080 x 2460p resolution.
The selfie camera on the display is housed in a waterdrop notch. While this is pretty much the norm for smartphones in this price bracket, the M6 Pro has a much better punch-hole cutout for the front-facing camera.
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Poco M6 5G review: Performance and Cameras
The Poco M6 5G is available in three storage and RAM variants – 128GB + 4GB, 128GB + 6GB, and 256GB + 8GB, we used the latter model for this review. This top-spec variant is priced at Rs 11,499. Powering the smartphone is a MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ SoC which is a respectable chipset for this segment.
The Poco M6 5G handles everyday tasks quite well. Activities like browsing through social media feeds, uploading media content to apps like Instagram and Facebook, and video calling on WhatsApp present no complications whatsoever. Switching between the apps and navigating the interface is generally lag-free, but not at the level of smoothness that we like. Even though the display has a refresh rate of 90Hz, it defaults to 60Hz for most apps. On the bright side, the 5G speeds make the Internet surfing experience blazing fast.
We even tried a bit of gaming on the Poco M6 5G. Basic games like Bubble Shooter and Candy Crush run smoothly on the device, but more demanding FPS games like Free Fire Max suffer from the odd hiccup and frame drop. The display refresh rate is capped at 60Hz for gaming apps as well, which is a big hindrance to its performance. On Geekbench 6, the M6 5G achieved a single-core score of 700 points and a multi-core score of 1,915 points. The Pro variant powered by the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC scored 863 and 1,893 points respectively.
MIUI 14 is a decent OS, especially on budget smartphones, but it comes with truckloads of bloatware. We would highly suggest putting aside some time to uninstall all the unwanted apps on the device. The apps are divided into multiple categories within the app drawer. You can change these categories according to your liking. One of the features that we really like is the option to sort apps by their icon colour. Accessing hidden apps is also quite easy and is intelligently woven into the app drawer. The smartphone also gives you the option to password-protect your images, notes, messages, and files.
The 5,000 mAh battery can easily power the device for an entire day, even if you’re a heavy user. Our daily usage during the review period consisted of using the Poco M6 5G as our primary content-viewing device (about 2 hours per day) along with general smartphone tasks like calling, messaging, social media browsing, and even a bit of gaming. We were left with a 10-15% charge at the end of each day. You can push the battery life to a day and a half with more conservative usage. The 10W power adapter provided inside the box can fully charge the phone in 2 hours. Although, you can get better results with a more powerful charger since the smartphone supports 18W charging.
Let’s move on to the camera performance. The Poco M6 5G rocks the same 50MP primary camera as its ‘Pro’ counterpart. Instead of the 2MP depth sensor, it gets a 0.08MP auxiliary lens. Up front, there’s a 5MP camera to capture selfies, a step down from the 8MP sensor on the M6 Pro 5G.
The 50MP primary shooter puts up a respectable performance on the Poco M6 5G. In outdoor daylight conditions, the smartphone took good, detailed shots. The images weren’t soft, unlike most budget offerings. We were happy with the details that it managed to capture. However, the colours seemed a bit washed and weren’t as punchy as we hoped. This isn’t down to the sensor, but rather an issue on the photoprocessing end.
The indoor images taken during the day produced great results. We were pleased with the sharpness of the pictures and how the objects were exposed. No complaints here. In limited lighting, the quality of the images takes a noticeable hit, despite shooting in Night Mode. There is significant grain in the images and the softness is palpable.
Selfies taken with the 5MP front-facing camera are on the softer side as well. A more powerful sensor, like the one on the Pro variant, would have done a better job of capturing the skin texture. However, we were happy that it didn’t overcorrect the skin tones. The primary shooter and the selfie camera are capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps.
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Verdict
While the Poco M6 5G is a great buy at Rs 10,499, is it worth spending an extra Rs 500 for the Pro variant? Absolutely. Not only do you get a higher resolution display on the Pro variant, but it also features a punch-hole cutout for the (more powerful) selfie camera. In terms of performance, both smartphones are pretty evenly matched and ahead of the competition. The primary camera on the Poco M6 5G produces good results in outdoor surroundings during the daytime. Users who are interested in a big-display smartphone that can take good pictures can’t go wrong with this one.
Poco M6 5G: Pros
- Big display
- Neat design
- Good camera performance
Poco M6 5G: Cons
- Not significantly cheaper than the Pro variant
