POCO F3 and X3 Pro are official: Snapdragon flagship power at reasonable price

Xiaomi’s sub-brand Poco revealed its new Poco F3 and Poco X3 Pro budget-friendly, value-driven smartphones. The Poco F3’s price will start at €349 for its 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage version and feature a Snapdragon 870 processor with 5G connectivity. The Poco X3 Pro will start at just €249 for its 6GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage version and feature a Snapdragon 860 processor.

Design and specs

Poco F3

The Poco F3 features a 6.67-inch HDR 10+ AMOLED flat display with a 1300 nits peak brightness, a 120Hz refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate. The screen also has a True Display technology similar to Apple’s TrueTone feature, adjusting the white balance of the display depending on the light conditions.

Poco’s new offering has a Snapdragon 870 processor with 5G and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. The Snapdragon 870 processor is a newly introduced chipset by Qualcomm based on the older 865. The F3 runs Android 11 with MIUI 12. The device features an upgraded Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU prime core clock speed of up to 3.2 GHz. Combined with its Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU and Dolby Atmos dual speakers, the gaming experience on the phone sounds promising in terms of audio quality and performance. A LiquidCool Technology 1.0 Plus feature is integrated into the Poco F3 to further improve peak gaming performance. The Poco F3 also has a LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.

The F3 has a triple-camera system with a 48MP main camera sensor, a 119° ultra-wide lens, and a 5MP telemacro camera. The telemacro camera allows the user to shoot detailed objects from really close. The front camera is a 20MP sensor with a punch-hole design that supports Night Mode. The Poco F3 will also feature Audio Zoom for video recording, which helps enhance the audio quality when filming.

An X-axis linear haptic motor is also featured in the device, bringing a better haptics performance, especially during gaming. The fingerprint sensor of the F3 is located on the side of the phone in its power button.

The Poco F3 uses a 4,520mAh battery with a 33W wired fast charging.

The new affordable performance phone will be offered in three colors - Arctic White, Night Black and Deep Ocean Blue.

Poco X3 Pro

The Poco X3 Pro now has an improved back design, featuring a matte-glass finish on its sides for better fingerprint resistance. Otherwise, the design is pretty much the same as the Poco X3.

The Poco X3 Pro features a 6.67-inch FHD+ LCD DotDisplay with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1080p resolution. The X3 Pro’s display is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 for improved durability. The Poco X3 Pro features the new Snapdragon 860 processor without 5G connectivity. The Snapdragon 860 processor is a new Qualcomm chipset based on the older 855. UFS 3.1 storage is featured on the X3 Pro with DDR4X RAM. These features should make the device one of the best performers at this price point.