Poco X3 Pro review in five points: Is this best smartphone under Rs 20,000?

Poco X3 Pro was launched in India last month as a successor to 2018's highly popular Poco F1. It resembles last year's Poco X3 but packs a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC under the hood. The smartphone is priced under Rs 20,000 for its base variant, making it one of the most affordable with a Snapdragon 8-series chipset, and one of the best options at the price point. Some other highlights of the phone include a 48-megapixel primary rear camera, and massive 5,160mAh battery.

The Poco X3 Pro is priced at Rs 18,999 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage variant while the top-end 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs 20,999. It competes with the Realme 8 Pro, Redmi Note 10 Pro Max and even the Poco X3 to some extent. But, is it really a Poco F1 successor? Here is everything you need to in our five-point review of Poco X3 Pro.

Point 1 The Poco X3 Pro crushes competition when it comes to performance. It has to be your go-to option for gaming under Rs 20,000. The Poco X3 Pro handles daily tasks with ease and runs heavy Android games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 seamlessly. You can either look at Snapdragon 860 SoC as an upgrade of a two-year-old chipset or a two-year-old flagship processor for one-third the price.

The only downside of using the upgrade of a two-year-old processor is the absence of 5G support. If you can ignore this, then the Poco X3 Pro will not disappoint. It offers the best price to performance ratio in the market right now.

Point 2 - The Poco X3 Pro sticks to the same 6.67-inch IPS LCD panel as the regular X3.This means you still get a FHD+ panel with 2400 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. And, that's good news. It has good viewing angles, vibrant colours and decent contrast levels. You can feel the difference while using the phone at 120Hz refresh rate. However, I didn't find the Poco X3 Pro screen as bright as the AMOLED displays used on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max and Realme 8 Pro.

Point 3 Poco has made big compromises when it comes to camera system. The Poco X3 used a 64-megapixel main sensor. The Poco X3 Pro is equipped with a 48-megapixel primary Sony IMX582 lens, an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel portrait lens. On the front, you get a 20-megapixel selfie shooter.

The camera produces passable results in daylight but isn't too impressive. In fact, both Redmi Note 10 Pro Max and Realme 8 Pro are miles ahead in this department. The portrait mode is effective and adds good amount of blur to the background. The image quality takes a dip with the ultra-wide-angle lens. The images lack detail, and the dynamic range isn't that great either.

You can read our detailed view on the Poco X3 Pro camera here.

Point 4 The battery on Poco X3 Pro has also been downgraded to 5160mAh from the 6000mAh pack on the Poco X3. However, this one doesn't hurt as much as the camera performance. Even the new battery size manages to last for over a day on medium usage, involving few hours of social media and gaming. It also helps in keeping the weight of the phone under check.

The Poco X3 Pro comes with a 33W fast charger which can charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent in about an hour. It's good to see the smartphone maker packing a fast charger with the phone.

Point 5 The biggest thing that you have to keep in mind while buying the Poco X3 Pro is that it is designed while keeping gamers in mind. The Poco F1 was an all-rounder and had almost all departments covered. That's what made it a cult among smartphone enthusiasts. The Poco X3 Pro isn't a disruptor like the F1 but offers a top-level performance at a very aggressive price point. That's rare to see these days.

Having said that, if photography is your preference, you can definitely check out other options in the same range. Also, if you are in the market for a compact smartphone, you can give the Poco X3 Pro a pass.