Poco, a brand derived from the Chinese giant Xiaomi, presented its two new flagship smartphones, the F6 and F6 Pro, on Thursday May 23, 2024, through its product marketing manager Angus Ng. The latter also answered our questions at the end of the conference.
Like a sense of deja vu
If the design of the Poco F6 Pro is reminiscent of the X6 Pro released a few months earlier, it is above all a Redmi K70 in disguise. A choice assumed by the brand.
“Design is an important part of the design of our products, but here we are talking about a design from a device unavailable in Europe. We will continue to make our smartphones unique products. When I arrive, I have -even faced reality when my boss refused to allow each of our devices to benefit from an original design. In short, it costs far too much and we must keep our promise to offer high-performance smartphones at the lowest price. .”
We therefore find a glass back with a marbled effect, a flat metal frame, and an imposing photo block covering the entire width of the device. The Poco F6, although more modest, maintains elegant lines, with its three prominent photo modules integrated directly into the hull.
On the screen side, the Poco F6 Pro has a 6.67-inch Amoled panel with very thin borders and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, and promises a peak brightness of 4000 cd/m². The F6 is equipped with a 120 Hz Oled display offering a maximum brightness of 2400 cd/m². Like Redmi, another Xiaomi brand, Poco takes care of its display part with, a priori, two particularly bright screens considering their price. Using it under the sun did not seem dangerous to us, but we will not fail to pass these two panels under our probes to check if Poco keeps its promises.
Smartphones that play the game
Poco claims that its two new terminals have been designed for gamers. The F6 is in fact the first smartphone to be equipped with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip and an Adreno 735 for the GPU part. For its part, the F6 Pro features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the SoC which powers the majority of high-end smartphones… in 2023. A logical decision for Angus Ng.
“Our main interest is in performance, but there is also the issue of cost. Throughout the development period, we have seen a concern that we are not using the latest premium model from Qualcomm and that we are using a year-old chipset In summary, it’s because we want to reduce costs and make sure our prices don’t increase. So our strategy is to equip our high-end smartphones with the most powerful processors. previous year, which is more than enough for everyday uses and all the games available. We have therefore decided to continue in this direction, but that does not mean that it will be the same in the future.”
Furthermore, the manufacturer announced a partnership with PUBG Mobile allowing its new flagships to support a 120 fps mode.
Photo quality for lens
The brand’s previous smartphones did not particularly shine with their photo component and Poco’s product marketing manager admits it:
“The cameras were certainly one of the weak points of our previous devices. This year, we have made a significant change and we will continue to offer a versatile and successful smartphone in the photo part, which is a criterion that is increasingly scrutinized . It’s one of the things we’re most proud of.”
This results in a photo block composed of a 50 Mpx main sensor with optical stabilization, and features such as a night mode supported by AI, or a burst mode capturing up to 50 images in a single shot on the F6 Pro. A configuration of the main module which gave us rather flattering results in outdoor use, day and night, which we will not fail to verify in our labs
The AI temptation
Both models also benefit from artificial intelligence functions, including contactless controls or even instant locking of the device if it does not detect the user in the area. New features that the firm wishes to measure.
“Most of the AI features we announced today run on device. We act gradually. We had little time to tame these advances. Some of them still need a lot of improvement. For us, entering the AI field was somewhat of a response to the current trend. We also felt that the benefits are significant, as this is not just a trend in the smartphone industry, but a ubiquitous reality at present. In the future, we hope to improve this aspect on our future products.”
Finally, if the Poco F6 is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery with 90 W fast charging, for a complete recharge in less than 30 minutes, the Poco F6 Pro offers a similar battery capacity, but with fast charging of 120 W, reaching 100% in 19 min. A Hibernation mode also extends usage time when the battery is low, guaranteeing up to 30 minutes of call time with just 1% battery remaining. Note that the brand provides the charging pad, which is increasingly rare and usually results in an additional purchase with competing brands.
Towards better sustainability
While other brands like Samsung, Google and Apple offer an extensive update policy, Poco announces only 3 years of major Android updates and four of security patches. An effort for the brand which, until the release of the X6 Pro, only guaranteed two + three. So why such a gap? And what repairability?
“Our goal is to make our devices easy to repair in case of breakage, although we are first working to ensure that they are robust enough to not require frequent repairs. When it comes to updates, many have required a longer software follow-up However, this is a very expensive procedure We were pleased to announce, earlier this year, an additional year of Android updates and security patches with our X and M series. We have observed that bigger brands, like Samsung or Google, promote their seven years of software tracking. However, for a company like ours, whose mission is to maintain competitive prices, this takes longer. We intend to continue in this direction and improve our offerings even further, why not from the next generation of smartphones.”
Availability and price
The Poco F6 and F6 Pro are already available for sale, starting at €499.99 and €579.99 respectively. The Poco F6 comes in classic black, green, and titanium, while the Poco F6 Pro comes in black or white.
Poco Pad’bol
At the conclusion of its conference, the brand also presented the Poco Pad, its very first tablet, in 12.1-inch format, equipped with a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and 8 GB of RAM. Designed for multitasking and mobile gaming, and priced at $329, the Poco Pad can be supplemented with a stylus and keyboard for versatile use.