POCO as a brand had a very promising start when it launched the POCO F1. The device managed to awe value chasers by providing flagship performance and specs at a small fraction of the price, without cutting too many corners. Even after the popularity of the F1, POCO was missing from the smartphone space for more than a year and got back in India with the POCO X2. It wasn’t a successor to the F1 but made a huge success in the midrange market. Nevertheless, users have clamored for a direct successor to the F1 for long. Finally, Poco has listened, launching it as the POCO F2 Pro on May 12.
Much like how POCO X2 was a rebranded Xiaomi Redmi K30 that was launched in China, the POCO F2 Pro is also a rebrand of the Xiaomi Redmi K30 Pro that was launched in China. It isn’t particularly negative, because all that really changes is the logo on the phone. The hardware remains the same along with some minor regional tweaks to the software, which is a good thing as the Redmi K30 Pro has promising specifications on paper.
Specification Overview
The POCO F2 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and supports 5G. There’s up to 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of UFS3.1 storage available, but the base variant gets a slight downgrade on the RAM and memory standards. You even get support for up to 30W fast charging with a decently sized 4,700 mAh battery. For the display, it has a 6.67-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display that comes without a notch or punch-hole cutout. This screen has a 20:9 aspect ratio alongside a 2340 * 1080p resolution, 180Hz touch sampling rate, and close to 1200nits of peak brightness, with support for HDR10+. What is disappointing to see is the omission of a high refresh rate screen, with the panel only offering a 60Hz refresh rate. This can be a bummer/dealbreaker for many people, especially after the POCO X2 hyped up the market with a 120Hz refresh rate.
At the camera front, the highlight of the device is a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor having a large 1/1.7” sensor size, with 0.8μm pixels pre-binning, and dual EIS plus OIS stabilization, as well as HEIF image format and 8K video recording support. There’s even a 13MP wide-angle camera sensor, as well as a 2MP depth sensor which we don’t really appreciate. The fourth sensor is a macro 5MP camera supporting 50mm macro photography. The front camera is within the popup – a 20MP shooter like last year’s K20 Pro.
Other notable features on the device include WiFi 6 support, Bluetooth 5.1, and NFC. POCO even includes an IR blaster at the top to let you control home appliances. A larger vapor-chamber also aids in cooling and sustaining peak performance along with an improved vibration motor. Last but not the least, the 3.5mm headphone jack is retained! Old times huh?
Pricing and Availability
The POCO F2 Pro is available in four color variants: Neon Blue, Phantom Blue, Electric Purple, and Cyber Gray. We must agree, they do stand out from the other phones in the market right now. The base variant will start at €499, while the top variant starts at €599. What remains to be seen is whether the device will be making its way to India. It will be competing with the greatest phones in this segment, like the OnePlus 8 and Mi 10. If it does, we hope to see better pricing than the Mi 10. Xiaomi better picks up hints after the Mi 10 pricing backlash in India.
