The Poco F6, the latest addition to the F-series, promises to deliver flagship-level performance at an affordable price, echoing the legacy of the original Poco F1, a phone that was a true flagship killer when it launched. But with the market constantly evolving, can the Poco F6 truly live up to the expectations of its predecessors? We spent a couple of weeks putting the phone through its paces to find out if it’s worthy of the F-series legacy.
Poco F6: An All-Round Mid-Range Champion?
The Poco F6 starts at Rs. 29,999 for the base 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant, going up to Rs. 33,999 for the top-end 12GB RAM + 512GB model—impressive considering its powerful hardware. While the colour options are limited to Black and Titanium, both offer a matte finish that feels smooth yet susceptible to fingerprints. The box includes a 120W fast charger, despite the phone only supporting up to 90W fast charging.
A Familiar Yet Refined Design
The Poco F6 takes a minimalist approach to design, featuring a plastic back and frame. The smooth finish, although prone to slipping, resists fingerprints. The Titanium variant, with its subtle glimmer, is visually appealing. The phone’s large circular camera rings might be divisive, but the chamfered edges contribute to its comfortable grip. Weighing just 179 grams with a thickness of 7.8mm, the F6 is surprisingly lightweight and comfortable to hold.
The front features Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the display, accompanied by slim bezels and a 94.2 percent screen-to-body ratio, giving it a premium look. An in-display fingerprint scanner sits at the bottom, while a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera graces the top centre. The right frame houses the volume and power button, while the top features a microphone, an IR blaster, and a loudspeaker. The bottom holds the USB Type-C port, another microphone, and the secondary speaker.
Adding a layer of protection, the Poco F6 boasts an IP64 rating, marking an upgrade from the IP53 rating on the Poco F5.
Powerhouse Performance with Flagship Chipset
The Poco F6 is the first phone in India to launch with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC, a powerful chipset built on the 4nm fabrication process, similar to the high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It is paired with fast LPDDR5x RAM (up to 12GB) and UFS 4.0 storage (up to 512GB) for seamless multitasking and lightning-fast app loading.
On the connectivity front, the phone features USB Type-C port, 5G Dual SIM, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, an Infrared blaster, and support for usual GPS satellites.
Benchmarking the Beast
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3’s power truly shines through in benchmarks, scoring 14,57,491 points on AnTuTu v10 and 1,835 points on Geekbench 6’s single-core test and 4,693 points on the multi-core test. These scores illustrate the exceptional performance the F6 offers, translating into seamless daily performance with no lag or stutter.
Immersive Display and Top-Notch Audio
The Poco F6 boasts a 6.67-inch LTPS AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution, 480Hz touch sampling rate, and a 120Hz refresh rate. This combination delivers a vibrant and responsive user experience. You can choose between a dynamic refresh rate that adapts to content or fixed 60Hz or 120Hz modes.
Brightness, Colour, and Sound
The display reaches a peak brightness of 2,400 nits, making it easily readable under direct sunlight. It also supports Dolby Vision HDR 10+, enhancing the visual experience. Color accuracy is impressive, with three main modes—Original Colour Pro, Vivid, and Saturated—and a custom mode for fine-tuning. I found the Original Colour Pro mode to be the most natural and pleasing.
The hybrid speaker setup delivers loud and clear audio with some noticeable bass. Even at full volume, vocals are clear and the overall sound quality is impressive. Calls are also clear with the microphones functioning well, even outdoors.
Gaming Prowess and Long-Lasting Battery
Gaming on the Poco F6 is smooth and enjoyable. From casual games to graphics-intensive titles like BGMI and Genshin Impact, the phone handles them all with ease at their highest settings. The touch sensitivity is great, and the Game Turbo app can be leveraged to further enhance gaming performance. While gaming does cause the phone to warm, it doesn’t become excessively hot, unlike during charging.
The Poco F6 packs a 5,000mAh battery supporting 90W fast charging, delivering impressive endurance. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted for about 21 hours, surpassing expectations. In daily use, the F6 readily provides more than a day and a half of battery life. Even with heavy usage involving gaming, YouTube, Netflix, GPS navigation, and camera usage, the phone consistently delivers 6 hours+ of screen time. When depleted, the 90W fast charging takes the phone from 0 to 100 in about 1 hour 10 minutes.
A Story of Two Cameras: The Good and the Unremarkable
The Poco F6 offers a dual camera setup, omitting the 2-megapixel macro camera from the F5. The main attraction is the 50-megapixel Sony IMX882 primary sensor with an f/1.6 aperture and OIS, accompanied by an 8-megapixel Sony IMX355 ultra-wide unit with a 119-degree field of view. The front houses a 20-megapixel selfie camera.
Daylight Delight and Low-Light Struggles
In daylight, the primary camera captures well-detailed photographs with accurate colours, good dynamic range, and well-balanced whites. It performs well in lowlight too, both in auto and Night mode, producing images that are much brighter than the real scene, particularly in darker environments. While some grain might be noticeable, the details are good when there are enough light sources present. The camera often smoothens and whitens skin tones slightly, even with Beauty mode disabled. The 50-megapixel mode, unfortunately, doesn’t significantly improve details.
The ultrawide camera performs adequately in daylight with decent details, but struggles in low light. The colour profile differs slightly from the primary camera, with images appearing less vibrant and colourful.
Selfie Camera and Video Recording
The 20-megapixel selfie camera provides decent results in daylight, capturing good details with mostly natural colours. The beautification features, when disabled, don’t interfere with the image quality. In lowlight, selfies exhibit considerable noise if flash isn’t used. While the camera lacks a telephoto lens, it offers an impressive wide field of view.
The Poco F6 supports 4K video recording at 60fps using the rear primary camera. To achieve stabilizer videos with OIS, however, you need to switch to 1080p 30fps. The 4K 60fps videos offer plenty of detail but with slightly muted colours and shadows. While the panning is smooth, stabilization isn’t great while walking or running. The 1080p 30fps footage, in contrast, exhibits decent stabilization. The primary camera performs well in low light conditions, albeit with increased noise. The ultrawide camera can shoot at 1080p 30fps, but the results are underwhelming, even in daylight, with noticeable noise and darker shadows.
The Verdict: Flagship Killer or Mid-Range Champion?
The Poco F6 is a compelling mid-range phone, offering solid performance, excellent battery life, and an impressive display. It competes head-on with phones like the Realme GT 6T, Vivo V30e, Realme 12 Pro+, Redmi Note 13 Pro+, Nothing Phone 2a, and Samsung Galaxy A35.
While these phones are similarly priced, the Poco F6 stands out in performance and battery life. The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ boasts an IP69 rating for added protection, while the Realme 12 Pro+ offers a versatile telephoto periscope camera, a rare feature at this price point.
For users seeking a superior camera setup, the Realme 12 Pro+ or Redmi Note 13 Pro+ might be preferable. If design is a top priority, the Realme 12 Pro+, Galaxy A55, or Nothing Phone 2a are intriguing options. The Realme GT 6T delivers similar camera performance with a larger battery and faster charging. If you prioritise performance, display, and gaming, the Poco F6 emerges as the clear winner.
Closing Thoughts
Considering its strengths in performance, display, and battery life, the Poco F6 truly earns its title as a mid-range champion. While its camera capabilities leave room for improvement, it excels in other areas, making it a strong contender in the competitive mid-range market. Its impressive features at an affordable price point make it a compelling option for anyone looking for an all-around balanced phone.
