Poco is quickly gaining popularity as one of the go-to brands for great value-for-money smartphones. While we still wait for the Poco F2, the Poco X3 has landed in India.
Originally pegged as a OnePlus Nord rival, the Poco X3 recently made its global debut in Europe. The key highlight of the Poco X3 is the new chipset inside. The Poco X3 global variant which is called the “Poco X3 NFC” was the first phone to feature the new mid-range chipset, the Snapdragon 732G. Along with the new chipset, It brings a lot to the table such as high refresh rate display, a large battery and promising cameras.
In India, the Poco X3 will face challenges from the Realme 7 Pro, Realme Narzo 20 Pro, Motorola One Fusion Plus, Samsung Galaxy M31s and more. With all of them excelling in a few aspects, the Poco X3 seems to be a jack of all with a slightly higher price than its predecessor.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The successor to the Poco X2
- When is it coming? September 22 in India
- How much will it cost? Starts at Rs 16,999
Poco X3 launch date and price in India
Update: The Poco X3 is now available will via Flipkart.
The Poco X3 was unveiled in India on September 22, a few weeks after the global launch. The device will succeed Poco X2 from February, which is one of the most popular budget smartphones of 2020.
In India, the Poco X3 is priced at Rs 16,999 for the base variant with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The 6GB + 128GB variant is priced at Rs 18,499 and the top of the line 8GB + 128GB is priced at Rs 19,999. Flipkart is the online sale partner and the fiesta sale is scheduled to take place on September 29 at 12 noon. The Poco X3 comes in two colour options – Shadow Gray and Cobalt Blue.
Poco X3 design and display
The Poco X3 will be a glass slab with a big circular housing across the spine for the cameras. The back panel has a two-tone finish with a thick band in the centre which also has large ‘Poco’ branding towards the bottom. Poco calls it “Go-faster design”. In India, the Poco X3 Shadow Gray and Cobalt Blue.
It has a curved back design which blends with the middle frame to offer the right balance and in-hand feel. The Poco X3 is also IP53 rated meaning you get protection against dust and water, a rare in the segment.
On the front is a large 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen with a Full HD+ resolution. It will boast of a refresh rate of 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of 240Hz, both of which are very rare in this segment. It comes with DynamicSwitch which smartly switches to 90Hz and below when there is no need to refresh the screen at 120Hz. There will be Gorilla Glass 5 covering on top for added scratch and drop protection. It is also capable of playing HDR10 content as well as streaming HD content on OTT platforms thanks to Widevine L1 certification. Lastly, it has also been certified by TÜV Rheinland for low blue light emission.
Poco X3 specs and features
As always, the Poco X3 truly shines when it comes to performance. It is powered by the Snapdragon 732G chipset, making it the first smartphone in the world to do so. This is an octa-core chipset with a clock speed of 2.3GHz and is better than the Snapdragon 730G and Snapdragon 720G on benchmarks.
There will be up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage as well. You also get microSD card support up to 512GB. The Adreno 618 GPU will take care of the graphics which is now 50% faster than last gen. The phone will also include LiquidCool technology to keep thermals in check. It can reduce the temperature by up to 6 degree.
The battery on the global variant is rated at a generous 5,120mAh. However, the Indian variant gets a bump with a 6.000mAh battery. With this massive battery, you can play games for 14 hours. This is one of the biggest batteries in the segment. The Poco X3 comes with a 33W fast charger in the box. The 33W charging on the Poco X3 is said to be 26% better than the other 33W charging tech thanks to Poco’s new MMT feature.
The Poco X3 also gains dual stereo speakers with Hi-Res audio support and also there is Qualcomm’s aptX HD sound support for wireless audio. To offer you better connectivity, the company has integrated 2×2 MIMO. On the software front, for gaming, there is all new Game Turbo 3.0 which comes with features like performance mode, sound quality optimization ,network optimization and voice changer.
Unlike the global variant, the Indian Poco X3 will not have support for NFC. Out of the box, it will run on Poco Launcher 2.0 atop MIUI 12. You get Ad-free experience, Dark mode, app drawer, Google discover feed, and more customization options onboard.
Poco X3 camera
On to the optics, the Poco X3 comes with a quad-camera stack with flagship-grade setup. You are looking at a 64MP f/1.89 primary camera (Sony IMX682) with 1/1.73” sensor size, a 13MP ultra-wide lens with 119-degree field of view followed by a 2MP macro shooter for close up shots and a 2MP depth sensor which helps you get portrait shots. On the front is a 20MP selfie shooter, which will reside in a punch-hole cut-out at the centre.
The camera has gained three new modes – Gold vibes mode which entire image changes to a new look, Cyberpunk mode wherein you get hue lighting, and there is AI Skyscaping 3.0, which replaces the sky in the pictures.