Poco F6 Pro in the test: A fast smartphone with a top display and good camera

Xiaomi markets good smartphones at affordable prices under the Poco brand. While models such as the Poco X6 (test report) or the Poco F6 (test report) are available, in addition to the cheaper Poco F6 (test report), there is also a particularly powerful version, the Poco F6 Pro. It follows the Poco F5 Pro (test report), which impressed us with good performance at a reasonable price last year.

Unlike the cheaper Poco F6 (test report), which has at least IP64 and is therefore splash-proof, the Poco F6 Pro does not have an IP certification. It is therefore not waterproof, so you should be careful. This is a shame, because the competition now offers IP67 and sometimes even IP68 in this price range.

Xiaomi’s Poco F6 Pro is definitely an attention grabber. High-quality glass and metal are used here compared to cheaper Poco models made of plastic. The larger smartphone looks thin and delicate and is also relatively light (209 grams) due to its large dimensions (160.9 × 75 × 8.2 mm). One-handed operation is not that easy.

The camera module is present in the upper third of the back. Three lenses in four rings and the LED flash are located on a rectangular element. The rest of the back is made of glass. Our test sample has very beautiful hatching. The frame is made of metal. The workmanship is first-class, the pressure points of the keys are solid and there are no gaps.

There are no complaints about the razor-sharp and superbly bright display. The diagonal of the OLED panel is 6.67 inches. The resolution is very high at 3200 × 1440 pixels, resulting in extremely sharp imaging with 525 ppi (pixels per inch). The image quality impresses with vibrant colors and perfectly coordinated contrasts. Moreover, with adaptive adjustment, the display always remains bright enough to be readable even in bright sunlight. We were able to measure more than 1000 nits, with up to 4000 nits possible in HDR mode according to Xiaomi.

The camera is a main lens with 50 megapixels (f/​1.6) and optical image stabilization (OIS). It also has a wide-angle lens with 8 megapixels (f/​2.2) and a macro lens with 2 megapixels (f/​2.4). A 16-megapixel front camera is available in the punch-hole notch for selfies.

As is often the case with smartphones of this class, the following applies here: the main camera is great, the wide angle and macro are poor. The 50-megapixel lens delivers great photos during the day and, thanks to the night mode with OIS, also takes great pictures in the dark. The lens usually combines four pixels into one using pixel binning, resulting in 12.5-megapixel images. Although this method reduces the resolution, it in turn improves light sensitivity. You can also access the full resolution of 50 megapixels if you wish.

Photos look very vibrant due to the large dynamic range that provides good interplay of light and shadow. Image details are clear, zoom can be used at 2x magnification with almost no loss of detail, but at 5x magnification images become grainy.

Taking pictures with the wide-angle lens is fine, but the low resolution results in significantly less image detail. You shouldn’t use the wide angle in the dark, as it will only show dark image noise anyway. The macro lens, on the other hand, could have been saved. We would have preferred a telephoto lens here, but these are more expensive. Selfies look good and the bokeh in portrait mode is also good.

Videos from the main camera are possible in up to 4K at 60 fps (frames per second). This is where OIS shows its prowess, clips look smooth and stable and impress with their high image sharpness and vibrant colours. We like that. Videos from the selfie cam are possible in full HD at 60 fps.

The Poco F6 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – last year’s flagship processor. It’s not brand new anymore, but still offers tremendous performance for all needs. Even gaming is no problem, as evidenced by the strong benchmark values ​​of 3DMark Wild Life Extreme with 3,500 points and PCMark Work 3.0 with 15,000 points.

RAM is always 12 GB and internal storage options are 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB – the faster variety with UFS 4.0. However, expansion via microSD card is not possible. Wi-Fi 7, 5G and Bluetooth 5.3 as well as NFC and an infrared port are also on board. The Type-C port is weak, as it only offers USB 2.0 and thus enables slow data transfer via cable. More would be expected for the price. For tracking, the Poco F6 Pro uses multiband technology via GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS and NavIC. As per the GPS test, we achieved an accuracy of around 3 meters.

The Poco F6 Pro runs Hyper OS 1.0.5 based on Android 14. At first glance, the changes compared to the previous MIUI 14 user interface are only minor. As usual, there is a lot of bloatware. At the time of testing in late August, the security patch was from July, so an update will come soon. Xiaomi promises security patches for four years and three major Android updates up to version 17.

The battery has a fantastic capacity of 5000 mAh. However, the F6 Pro is unlikely to be a runtime miracle, as we were able to record around 10.5 hours in the PCmark battery test. This is only in the middle range of our test range. But you should be able to get through the day with the F6 Pro without any problems. Charging is then pleasantly fast – with 120 watts, the empty cell phone is fully charged in less than 30 minutes. But there is no wireless charging.

The Poco F6 Pro is by far the most expensive model in the series. The RRP for the 12/256 GB model is 599 euros. However, the price has now dropped significantly. The 12/256 GB variant starts at 418 euros. Our tip is the 12/512 GB model, which comes with 448 euros Slightly more expensive. The F6 Pro with 1TB and 16GB RAM is the lowest priced 640 euros.The cell phone is available in black and white colors.

As the top device from Xiaomi’s affordable brand, the Poco F6 Pro offers very high performance and a great display at the flagship level. The workmanship also appears to be of very high quality, made of glass and metal instead of plastic, unlike other Poco models. The smartphone charges quickly using a 120-watt power supply. The main camera is impressive during the day and, to a large extent, at night.

However, some of the features offered by the top smartphones today are missing. There is no telephoto lens, the wide-angle lens is average and Xiaomi could have saved a macro lens. There is no protection against water, including certification – not even against splashing water. If this doesn’t bother you, you get a good smartphone, but it’s not as cheap as you’re used to from other models from the brand. For this reason, the Poco F6 (test report) is a clear choice.

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