POCO X6 Neo 5G review: a well-rounded smartphone

Name: POCO X6 Neo
Item: POCO X6 Neo
Rating: 7
Author: Shekhar Thakran

Published On: April 16, 2024

Review Summary

Expert Rating
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The POCO X6 Neo 5G is the latest entry in the X series from the brand. There is a lot to talk about this phone but before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s address the elephant in the room. The new POCO phone shares its specs with the Redmi Note 13 5G (review), barring an additional ultra-wide camera sensor on the latter. In fact, most of the differences between the two phones are either in the camera department or the software. The POCO X6 Neo is currently available at a starting price of Rs 15,999. Even if we leave aside the Redmi handset, there are some solid handsets in this price range that offer some impressive specs. Does the POCO phone have some tricks up its sleeves that make it a better buy? Read my detailed review below to find out.

Verdict

The POCO X6 Neo is a well-rounded smartphone that offers reasonably good specifications and features at every front. The handset offers good value for money and comes with the slimmest design on a POCO phone ever. As this price segment is extremely competitive, some other phones offer more capable processors in this price bracket. However, if you consider aspects like the camera performance, display quality, and design, the X6 Neo does make a strong case for itself.

Design and Display

The POCO X6 Neo opts for a minimalist design language and is available in Astral Black and Martian Orange variants.
Notably, this is the slimmest POCO phone ever made. The handset measures just 7.69mm in thickness. Weighing in at 175 grams, the phone feels fairly light in the hand.
The phone comes with a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button, which is convenient to reach and easy to use.
The handset packs a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED display with FHD+ screen resolution and 1000 nits of peak brightness. With the punch-hole design, the phone offers an immersive experience (93.3 percent screen-to-body ratio).
The phone offers punchy colours (ideal for multimedia consumption) and outdoor visibility is reasonably good too.
You get useful features such as a 3.5mm audio jack and an IR blaster for added functionality.

Cameras

Equipped with a 108MP primary camera, the POCO X6 Neo delivers well-balanced images with a good amount of detail preservation.
The 2MP macro camera further expands creative possibilities, albeit with some compromises in low-light performance.
The front-facing 16MP camera excels in daylight conditions but falters in low-light environments, which leaves room for improvement.
I faced some issues with video stabilisation when shooting videos as they turned out shaky.
Camera modes on offer include 108MP, Documents, Night, Pro, Short Video, Panorama, Slow Motion, Time-Lapse, and AI watermark. These modes are fairly standard and unlike some other phones that offer templates for short videos to share on social directly, you lack innovative options here.
Despite offering almost similar hardware to the Redmi Note 13, the POCO X6 Neo camera performance was strikingly different from its Redmi counterpart.
The X6 Neo produced some aggressively vibrant images, even overexposed in certain cases, compared with the Redmi Note 13 5G.
While the overall image quality was decent, if you like your images to be accurate in terms of colours and skin tones, you might be left wanting for more.

Performance and software

Powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 6080 SoC and paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configurations, the POCO X6 Neo delivers commendable performance in daily usage.
I didn’t face any stutter or lag issues while playing even demanding titles on the handset and app load times were pretty good too.
The phone offers you the option to extend memory by turning storage into RAM by up to 12GB.
In the AnTuTu benchmark, the handset managed to score 445887, which is not the best in this price range but still respectable.
While conducting the Geekbench benchmark, the handset got a single-core score of 759 and a multi-core score of 1941. Again, there are phones in this price range that have grabbed substantially higher scores but this is a good score nonetheless.
The handset runs MIUI 14 and comes with some pre-installed apps out of the box.
Some of the more useful features offered by the phone include Dual Apps and Floating Windows. The former lets you run two instances of the same app to let you use two accounts on the same phone. The latter provides easy access to the most commonly used apps.
The Second Space feature provides you with a secondary account on the phone. This could be useful in case you want to hand over your phone to someone else but don’t want to compromise your privacy.

Battery and Charging

The POCO X6 Neo houses a 5,000mAh battery complemented by efficient 33W charging, ensuring full-day usage. You’ll have to recharge the handset by the end of the day after regular use and with heavy use, you might have to plug it in by the evening.
In the PCMark battery test, the handset managed to last 10 hours and 38 minutes. This is towards the lower side if you compare it with other phones in this price category.

Final Verdict

In summary, the POCO X6 Neo does face some stiff competition in its price range against the likes of the Moto G54 5G (review), Lava Blaze Curve 5G (review), and of course, the Redmi Note 13 5G. While the former two phones offer better performance (at least if we go by benchmark numbers), the Redmi handset offers better camera performance. All said and done, the X6 Neo emerges as an option worth considering for consumers seeking a blend of performance, versatility, and value. While it may not revolutionise the smartphone landscape, aspects like refined design, dependable performance and immersive display position it as a worthy contender in its price segment.