POCO X3 NFC announced: A whole lot of phone for €250

The POCO brand made a comeback in 2020, as the Xiaomi sub-brand released the POCO X2, POCO F2 Pro, and POCO M2 Pro. All these phones were essentially rebranded Redmi devices though, but the firm has just announced its first seemingly original device in 2020.

The POCO X3 NFC is a follow-up of sorts to the POCO X2 released at the beginning of the year. However, the new phone has an original design, offering a distinctive rear camera housing, a textured stripe running from the top to the bottom of the polycarbonate rear cover, as well as gigantic “POCO” branding in said stripe. You’ve also got IP53 splash resistance here, so the device should be able to survive if you get caught in the rain.

This is also the first phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 732G processor. The new silicon is a mild upgrade over the Snapdragon 730G seen in the POCO X2, bringing a clock speed boost to the heavyweight CPU core as well as the GPU. The latter means you can expect a 15% boost in graphics rendering, which should be handy for high refresh rate gaming.

Speaking of high refresh rates, the POCO X3 NFC packs a 6.67-inch LCD screen (HDR10, FHD+, Gorilla Glass 5) with a 120Hz refresh rate too. Unlike the POCO X2 though, the new panel offers a center-mounted punch-hole instead of a pill-shaped cutout in the right-hand corner.

What else to expect from POCO X3 NFC?

A high refresh rate doesn’t mean much if the phone conks out in no time flat, but the POCO X3 NFC also sports a 5,160mAh battery. The brand says you should expect two days of “moderate” usage as a result, while 33W wired charging will get you topped up in 65 minutes. You can also expect 63% juice after 30 minutes of charging. Thankfully, Xiaomi is including the 33W charger in the box.

Poco’s latest phone packs some decent camera hardware on paper too. The rear quad camera setup features a 64MP main sensor (IMX682), a 13MP ultra-wide shooter (119 degree field of view), and a pair of 2MP sensors for macro shots and depth effects respectively. Selfies are handled by a 20MP camera in the aforementioned punch-hole.

Other notable POCO X3 NFC features include a 3.5mm port, side-mounted fingerprint scanner, NFC (surprise!), MIUI 12 for POCO skin atop Android 10, a Z-axis linear motor for haptic feedback, Bluetooth 5.1, and Wi-Fi 5. Furthermore, Xiaomi said it’ll offer three years of system updates (no word if they mean Android or security updates) as well as kernel sources at launch.

The POCO X3 NFC starts at €229 (~$271) for the 6GB/64GB variant and €269 (~$318) for the 6GB/128GB option. The phones will be available at early bird pricing of €199 and €249 respectively from tomorrow (September 8). The device will be available in Shadow Grey and Cobalt Blue. What do you think of the phone? Take our poll below!