Xiaomi’s Pocophone F1 turned plenty of heads when it launched back in 2018, but we’ve had to wait more than two years for a true successor in the Poco X3.
The Poco X2 did launch back in February, but that was exclusive to India. While it looked like the device would be coming to other markets at some points, the global launch of the Poco X3 (or Poco X3 NFC, to give its full title) proves that Xiaomi is already ready for the true next generation of Poco phone. Here’s everything you need to know.
When did the Poco X3 release?
The Poco X3 launched on 7 September, and is on sale in the UK now from the Xiaomi website or Amazon UK
How much does the Poco X3 cost?
The Poco X3 launches in the UK in two specifications:
6GB RAM + 64GB storage – £199
6GB RAM + 128GB storage – £249
If you act fast the larger storage model is available from Xiaomi for just £229 until 8 October, giving you a £20 discount.
The price makes the Poco X3 eligible for our best budget phone chart, and also undercuts the £329 price of the Pocophone F1, the closest thing to a UK predecessor for the phone..
Its main competitors at that price will be the Realme 6, Xiaomi’s own Redmi Note 9S, and the Oppo A9 2020.
What about the Poco X3 specs & features?
The Poco X3 NFC packs in some impressive specs considering the price point it’s hitting:
Snapdragon 732G processor
6.67in 120Hz LCD display
64Mp main camera
5,160mAh battery
33W fast charging
For a phone that’s less than £250 that’s a solid spec sheet, which is really no surprise coming from Poco.
This will be one of the first phones to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 732G that should offer really solid mid-range performance, especially in gaming, making it pretty powerful for the price. It’s worth noting that there’s no 5G support though, so this is a 4G-only phone.
As mentioned above, it comes with 6GB of RAM and your choice of 64GB or 128GB storage. If that’s not enough, there’s also expandable storage, with up to another 256GB.
The 6.67in LCD screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling, with HDR10 support and an impressive 87% DCI-P3 colour gamut – meaning colour accuracy should be amazing. It’s interrupted only by a small punch-hole selfie camera in the centre, which offers 20Mp shots.
There are four cameras on the rear, arranged in a pretty unusual looking camera module. The main lens is a 64Mp, f/1.73 with the Sony IMX682 sensor (oddly a slight downgrade from the IMX686 in the Poco X2) that uses 4-in-1 pixel binning. It’s backed up by a 13Mp ultra-wide, 2Mp macro, and 2Mp depth sensor. It’ll also handle 4K video recording at 30 frames per second.
Then there’s the huge 5,160mAh battery. Poco says the phone should last two days of moderate use, and with that capacity it honestly might. 33W fast charging is fairly nippy too, and should get you over 60% of the battery back in just half an hour of charging.
There’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner built into the power button, dual stereo speakers, IP53 water-resistance, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and last but not least, NFC support – in case you couldn’t guess from the name.
As for software, it will run Android 10 out of the box, using a version of Xiaomi’s MIUI12 customised for Poco. The company has also promised three years of updates for the phone, and will even make kernel sources available for each patch for the really techie users who want to tweak the OS exactly to their liking.
It’s available in two colours: Shadow Grey and Cobalt Blue.
