POCO F6, F6 Pro launched: Which one is actually the Pro phone?

The POCO F series has long been the brand’s most capable phone line, bringing ultra-fast charging, loads of horsepower, and great screens. We’ve known about the POCO F6 line for a while, and the Xiaomi-affiliated brand has now announced these mid-range phones.

The POCO F6 and F6 Pro share several features, namely the HyperOS skin atop Android 14, a 5,000mAh battery, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and an IR blaster.

The POCO F6 isn’t a performance downgrade

Otherwise, the POCO F6 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which was used in last year’s flagship phones. Meanwhile, the POCO F6 is part of the first wave of phones to use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip. This chip is a big deal as it brings a flagship-tier CPU (using the latest Arm cores) and a GPU derived from last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Strangely enough, the POCO F6 actually brings better performance in some areas according to our own testing. The F6 brings notably better single-core performance and a better PCMark Work 3.0 score for system performance. The F6 was also close to the Pro during the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, and it actually beat the Pro model from runs seven to 17 before losing out in the final stretches.

Nevertheless, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 does offer 8K recording, and the F6 Pro indeed offers this option in the camera app. By comparison, the POCO F6 tops out at 4K/60fps. Either way, it’s clear that both phones have flagship-level performance, but the F6 might be the better buy if horsepower is a top priority.

POCO F6 Pro

True to the moniker, the POCO F6 Pro is the more premium of the two phones. Expect a 6.67-inch QHD+ OLED screen (3,200 x 1,440, 120Hz), complete with 4,000 nits of peak brightness or 1,200 nits in high brightness mode.

POCO is also bringing 120W wired charging to the F6 Pro, complete with a 120W charger in the box. The downside is that wireless charging, which debuted on the POCO F5 Pro, is missing in action here.

Those expecting a top-tier camera system will be disappointed as we’ve got the same old 50MP+8MP+2MP rear camera trio. On the upside, the 50MP camera is an Omnivision Light Fusion 800 sensor (f/1.6, one-micron pixel size) with OIS, while POCO claims that the device can shoot 50 shots in a single burst. Otherwise, a 16MP selfie camera is available upfront. The Pro phone also supports 8K/24fps video recording, making good use of the flagship silicon.

The company is also touting an aluminum frame and glass back for a more premium feel, and it definitely feels more expensive than the standard F6.

Oddly, the F6 Pro has worse durability on paper than the standard F6. POCO told Android Authority that the F6 Pro has Gorilla Glass 5 on the front as well as an IP54 rating. Meanwhile, the standard F6 packs Gorilla Glass Victus and an IP64 rating.

In other words, both devices are only splash-resistant but the standard F6 is completely dust-resistant while the Pro model still allows some dust ingress. That Gorilla Glass disparity is noteworthy as well, as Gorilla Glass Victus has two-meter drop resistance and double the scratch resistance of Gorilla Glass 6. By comparison, Gorilla Glass 5 offers 1.2-meter drop resistance and inferior scratch resistance.

POCO F6

Don’t want to spend Pro money but still want a powerful phone at a reasonable price? Then the POCO F6 might be up your alley. You won’t get a QHD+ screen like the Pro device, but the 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED screen tops out at 1.5K resolution (2,464 x 1,220), making it sharper than comparably sized 1080p panels. The Xiaomi-affiliated brand also says the panel can reach 2,400 nits of peak brightness and 1,000 to 1,200 nits in high brightness mode.

POCO’s standard phone serves up 90W wired charging, along with a 90W adapter in the box. Otherwise, the device brings a dual camera pairing, featuring a 50MP main camera (f/1.59, 0.8-micron pixels) and an 8MP ultrawide lens.

A 20MP camera handles selfies, but POCO is also using this sensor for Motion Sense-style gestures. More specifically, the company says you can swipe laterally to skip songs and adjust playback progress, do a double-press gesture to play/pause media, wave vertically to switch between short videos and adjust media volume, and draw a circle to answer calls. Unfortunately, I found most of these gestures to be extremely unreliable in my short time with the device, save for the double-press gesture.

The device has a plastic frame and back, and that definitely makes it feel like a step back from the F6 Pro in terms of overall quality and finish. Then again, the aforementioned Gorilla Glass Victus protection and IP64 rating makes it better on the durability front than the Pro handset.

The F6 also brings Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 6 compared to the Pro variant’s Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 7. So it’s not a total connectivity win for the Pro model.

POCO F6 series pricing and availability

Keen on getting the standard F6? Then you’ll need to pay $379 for the 8GB/256GB model, going all the way up to $429 for the 12GB/512GB model. However, POCO has also confirmed that it’s knocking $50 off these prices as part of an early bird promotion.

The POCO F6 Pro starts at $499 for the 12GB/256GB variant, going all the way up to $629 for the 16GB/1TB model. Much like the F6, the company is cutting $50 off these prices as part of an early bird promotion.

POCO also launched the POCO Pad on the day, which seems to be a rebranded Redmi Pad Pro. Expect a mid-tier Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, a 12.1-inch 120Hz LCD panel (2,560 x 1,600), a 10,000mAh battery with 33W charging, microSD support, and quad speakers. The tablet retails for $329 for the sole 8GB/256GB variant, with a $30 discount to $299 as part of early bird pricing.