POCO X6 Review: Is It Worth the Hype in 2024?

In mid-range smartphones, POCO has consistently made a mark with its compelling offerings, and the start of 2024 is no different. The POCO X6, part of the brand’s newest X-series lineup launched by the popular Xiaomi sub-brand, has created a buzz in the global market. This lineup, consisting of the X6, X6 Pro, and M6 Pro 4G, exceeds the expectations of mid-range smartphones.

The POCO X6, the focus of our review, presents itself as an intriguing blend of affordability and robust performance. At its heart lies the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, promising a seamless experience, bolstered by options of up to 12GB of RAM and a hefty 512GB of storage. The device aims to strike a balance between cost-efficiency and advanced features, making it a potential candidate for those looking to upgrade their phone in 2024 without breaking the bank.

Our comprehensive review will delve into every aspect of the POCO X6, evaluating its design, performance, camera capabilities, and much more. We aim to uncover whether this device lives up to the hype and continues the legacy of its predecessors, offering exceptional value in a highly competitive market segment. Stay with us as we explore what the POCO X6 has to offer and determine if it’s the right choice for your smartphone needs this year.

POCO X6 Features

Design and Build Quality

The POCO X6 drawing inspiration from its predecessor, the POCO X5, maintains the lineage’s aesthetic appeal while introducing subtle yet significant changes. The front of the POCO X6 is defined by a large, visually immersive display, which is a key highlight of its design. Dominating the front is a 6.67-inch OLED screen, stretching almost edge-to-edge. This expansive display is encased in minimal bezels, with a particularly slim chin that maximizes the screen-to-body ratio, making for a more engaging user experience.

At first glance, the POCO X6 captures attention with its glossy back panel, a departure from the matte finish of the previous generation. This glossy finish is available in black and blue color options, offering a visually striking appearance. Additionally, there is a unique white marble-effect variant that stands out for its distinctive pattern, adding an extra layer of sophistication to the design. The POCO logo, repositioned and resized for subtlety, enhances the phone’s aesthetic without being overly conspicuous.

Acknowledging the glossy finish’s tendency to attract fingerprints, POCO smartly includes a black silicone-style case in the box, additional protection against drops and scratches but also helps maintain the phone’s aesthetic integrity by reducing smudge visibility.

In mid-range smartphones, the choice of materials is crucial in balancing cost and quality. The POCO X6 uses high-grade plastic for its back panel and frame, providing a lightweight yet sturdy build. This material choice, while not as luxurious as glass or metal, offers a pragmatic approach, ensuring durability and resistance to everyday wear and tear. The phone feels robust in hand, reassuring of its build quality.

Ergonomically, the POCO X6 is designed with user comfort in mind. Its dimensions and weight distribution make it comfortable to hold for extended periods, an essential factor for today’s heavy smartphone usage. The strategically placed buttons and ports enhance usability, with the volume rocker and power button easily accessible on the side. The bottom of the phone houses the USB-C port and a dual-SIM slot, a nod to practicality, though the absence of expandable storage and eSIM support might be a drawback for some users.

One of the more impressive features of the POCO X6 is its IP54 rating, signifying a significant level of resistance to dust and splashes. This rating, while not as comprehensive as the IP68 standard found in higher-end models, offers sufficient protection against common environmental factors.

Display and Quality

The POCO X6 boasts a large 6.67-inch OLED display, offering an expansive and immersive visual experience. The use of OLED technology ensures deep blacks and vibrant colors, significantly enhancing the overall viewing quality. One of the standout features of the X6’s display is its 1.5K resolution, surpassing the standard Full HD+ found in many mid-range smartphones. This higher resolution of 2712 x 1220 pixels translates into sharper images and clearer text, providing a more detailed and crisp display. Additionally, the screen supports an impressive peak brightness of up to 1800 nits, ensuring excellent visibility even under direct sunlight. This high brightness level, combined with Dolby Vision support, guarantees a superior viewing experience, particularly for HDR content.

The POCO X6’s display is not just about visual quality but also smoothness and responsiveness. It features a 120Hz refresh rate, which doubles the standard 60Hz rate found in many smartphones. This higher refresh rate results in smoother scrolling and more fluid animations, significantly enhancing the user interface’s responsiveness. For gamers and those who value a seamless touch experience, the POCO X6 delivers a noticeable improvement over traditional displays. Furthermore, the device offers the flexibility to switch between 120Hz and 60Hz or use a default mode that intelligently alternates between the two based on the content, balancing performance, and battery life.

A significant feature of the POCO X6’s display is its support for a 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut. This inclusion ensures rich and accurate color reproduction, crucial for those who prioritize color fidelity, such as photo and video enthusiasts. The wide color gamut presents more vivid and lifelike colors, making images and videos pop with greater realism.

Audio Quality

The audio experience on the POCO X6 is commendable, thanks to its dual-stereo speaker setup. This upgrade from a single speaker system to a stereo configuration results in a more immersive and dynamic sound, enhancing the overall multimedia experience. While the speakers deliver clear and loud audio, they might not offer the depth and bass that audiophiles seek. Nevertheless, for everyday use, the audio quality is more than satisfactory.

Performance and Hardware

At the heart of the POCO X6 lies the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset. This processor, a mid-range contender, is not as swift as the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 but offers a respectable performance for its class. Built on a 4nm process, it ensures a balance between efficiency and power. The chipset’s architecture is designed to handle everyday tasks with ease, from browsing social media to streaming HD content. It’s also capable of handling more demanding applications, though not at the same level as flagship processors.

The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, with its octa-core CPU and Adreno 710 GPU, is more than adequate for casual gaming. Games like Asphalt 9 and BGMI run smoothly, though, for graphically intensive titles like Genshin Impact, some settings adjustments might be necessary for optimal performance. This chipset’s thermal management is competent, maintaining a balance between performance and heat dissipation, ensuring that the phone does not overheat during prolonged use.

RAM and Storage Options

The POCO X6 comes in various configurations. The base model starts with a generous 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, which should suffice for most users. For those requiring more power and space, the phone scales up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. This higher RAM capacity is beneficial for multitasking and keeping more apps in memory, resulting in a smoother user experience. The UFS 2.2 storage, while not the fastest in the market, provides adequate read/write speeds for everyday use, ensuring that apps load quickly and files are transferred with minimal delay.

The Antutu Storage Test reveals scores of 57,017 with read speeds of about 11796 MB/s and write speeds nearing 1018.3 MB/s. These figures translate into real-world benefits such as quicker app loading times, rapid file transfers, and generally more responsive interaction with the device. This means that applications, especially those that are storage-intensive, launch swiftly, and the phone can handle large files and data transfers without breaking a sweat.

Benchmark Scores and Real Usage

In benchmark tests, the POCO X6 delivers solid numbers. On Antutu, it scores around 605,390, which is quite impressive for a mid-range device. The Geekbench results show a single-core score of 1025 and a multi-core score of 2997, indicating that the phone can handle most tasks without any significant lag or slowdown.

Real performance mirrors these benchmark results. The POCO X6 handles day-to-day activities seamlessly, from navigating between apps, and streaming videos, to engaging in casual gaming sessions, the phone performs without any noticeable hiccups. Even with multiple apps running in the background, the device manages to maintain its responsiveness, a testament to its capable hardware and well-optimized software.

Camera Capabilities

The POCO X6 makes a significant leap in its photography prowess compared to its predecessors. It’s equipped with a versatile triple-camera system. The primary highlight is the 64MP main camera, backed by Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), ensuring sharp, detailed images even in challenging situations. Complementing the main sensor are an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP macro lens. The front of the device features a competent 16MP selfie camera, optimized for capturing clear and vibrant self-portraits.

Daylight Performance

In well-lit conditions, the POCO X6’s main camera truly shines. It captures high-resolution images with impressive detail and dynamic range. Colors are rendered vividly, yet they retain a natural tone, avoiding the pitfall of over-saturation common in many smartphones. The ultra-wide lens, while stepping down in resolution, offers a broader field of view, making it ideal for landscape shots and large group photos. It maintains color consistency with the primary sensor, though with a slight compromise in sharpness. The macro lens, albeit lower in resolution, allows for close-up shots, revealing intricate details often missed by the naked eye.

Low Light and Night Photography

When the lights dim, the POCO X6’s camera system still manages to hold its ground. The main camera’s OIS comes into play, reducing blur and enhancing image clarity in low-light scenarios. While some noise is inevitable, the camera’s night mode effectively brightens the scene, preserving details and keeping noise levels in check. The ultra-wide and macro cameras struggle slightly under limited light, which is typical for sensors of their size. However, they still produce usable images, particularly when there’s some ambient light present.

Video Recording Capabilities

The POCO X6 steps up its game in video recording by offering 4K resolution at 30 fps with the primary camera, a notable improvement for content creators and casual videographers. The OIS ensures that the footage is stable and smooth, which is particularly beneficial when recording while in motion. The phone also includes a ‘Steady Video’ mode, although it limits the output to 1080p. This mode is useful for capturing action-packed scenes or vlogging on the go. The front camera, while capped at 1080p, delivers good quality video, suitable for video calls and selfie videos.

Operating System and User Interface

The POCO X6 runs on MIUI 14, Xiaomi’s customized overlay on top of Android 13. MIUI 14 introduces a refined and more organized interface. The design language is sleek, with an emphasis on minimalism and ease of use. Users are greeted with a clean home screen layout, intuitive navigation, and well-organized menus. The system animations are smooth, complementing the high refresh rate of the POCO X6’s display, which makes transitions and scrolling appear seamless. An exciting aspect for X6 is the upcoming transition to HyperOS, which is based on Android 14. This update is expected to introduce new features, enhanced performance, and improved efficiency.

One of the standout features of MIUI is its high level of customization. You can personalize almost every aspect of the interface, from changing themes and icons to adjusting the font size and style. The Theme Store offers a wide range of options, allowing users to completely overhaul the look of their device. Additionally, the always-on display settings provide various styles and information displays, although it is worth noting that the always-on feature is limited to short durations.

Notification Management and Control Center:

The notification management in MIUI 14 is efficient and user-friendly. Swiping down from the right side of the screen accesses the Control Center, reminiscent of iOS, offering a quick toggle for settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and brightness. Swiping down from the left brings up notifications, ensuring that users can easily distinguish between alerts and system controls.

Bloatware and Pre-installed Apps:
A common critique of MIUI is the presence of bloatware. The POCO X6 is no exception, coming with pre-installed apps and games that may not be useful for all users. However, most of these can be uninstalled, providing the option to free up space and reduce clutter. Additionally, Xiaomi’s suite of apps, such as the Mi Store and Mi Community, offers added functionality, though some may prefer the simplicity of Google’s alternatives.

Software Updates and Security:
POCO has committed to providing three years of Android OS updates and four years of security patches for the POCO X6. This policy ensures that the device stays up-to-date with the latest software improvements, security enhancements, and feature additions for a significant duration of its lifecycle. This extended support period is particularly notable in the mid-range smartphone segment, aligning POCO with some of the best practices in the industry.

Connectivity

The POCO X6 stands out in the connectivity department, with its 5G support, offering them faster download and upload speeds, lower latency, and a more seamless online experience. Additionally, the device supports Wi-Fi 6E, ensuring a robust and fast Wi-Fi connection, which is essential for high-bandwidth activities like streaming high-resolution videos or engaging in online gaming.

The inclusion of NFC in the POCO X6 adds a layer of convenience for contactless payments, easy pairing with other NFC-enabled devices, and quick data sharing. The IR Blaster is a unique addition that transforms the phone into a universal remote, allowing users to control a wide range of home appliances, such as TVs, air conditioners, and more, directly from their phone. Also, equipped with Bluetooth 5.2, ensuring stable and efficient wireless connectivity with a variety of devices.

Battery Life and Charging

The POCO X6 is equipped with a substantial 5,100mAh battery, a minor yet notable upgrade over its predecessor, the POCO X5. In practical scenarios, the battery life stands out impressively. For average use, the phone comfortably lasts a full day, even with a mix of activities like browsing, streaming, and occasional gaming. For heavy use, including frequently engaging in gaming or using power-intensive apps, the POCO X6 still manages to hold its ground commendably.

One of the highlights of the POCO X6 is its 67W fast charging technology. It significantly reduces the downtime associated with charging. In real-time testing, the charger included in the box can power up the phone from near empty to about 87% in just 30 minutes. While the device lacks wireless charging, a feature typically found in higher-end models, this omission is understandable given the phone’s positioning in the mid-range market segment.

Final Verdict on Value for Money

In the fiercely contested mid-range smartphone market, the POCO X6 holds its ground well. Its pricing pits it directly against other mid-range phones from brands like Samsung, Realme, and Oppo. What makes the POCO X6 stand out is its balance of performance and features – notably the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, a substantial battery with fast charging, and a high-quality display – often at a price point lower than its counterparts.

The POCO X6 emerges as a strong contender in the value-for-money segment. It successfully delivers a suite of features that are typically associated with more expensive models, such as a high-refresh-rate AMOLED display, substantial RAM and storage options, and a versatile camera setup with improved night photography capabilities. The inclusion of contemporary features like 5G supports further future-proofs of the device, adding to its value proposition.

Moreover, POCO’s commitment to providing a combination of robust hardware specs and user-centric features at an accessible price point is evident in the X6. This approach makes the POCO X6 an excellent choice for budget-conscious who do not wish to compromise on performance and the latest features.