Review Summary
Expert Rating
POCO kicked off this year with its new X7 series, which includes the POCO X7 Pro and the POCO X7. The new series gets some solid upgrades over its predecessors, including bigger batteries, better IP ratings, new AI features, and more. While the POCO X7 Pro receives the lion’s share of the improvements, the POCO X7 isn’t far behind.
I’ll be talking about the POCO X7 5G, what impressed me about this device, and its other noteworthy quirks in this review.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The POCO X7 is a great choice for those seeking a multimedia-centric smartphone with impressive battery life. It has solid build quality and takes appealing images in well-lit conditions. POCO also keeps up with rivals by promising three years of major OS updates (there’s a catch), even on the regular X7. However, the brand must consider improving the software experience by reducing the extra pre-installed apps.
Design and display
POCO has revamped the design of its X7 series this year by reintroducing the iconic POCO yellow colour to the X7 5G. The device also brings a 3D curved display to the X-lineup for the first time. There’s a large camera island towards the rear with a Black textured strip at the centre with yellow accents towards the edges.
There’s a large POCO branding on the rear panel, which admittedly, I’m not very fond of. The textured faux leather does a good job of keeping fingerprints and smudges away. The bottom houses the USB-C port, SIM tray, and a stereo speaker, with its counterpart located at the top. The volume and power buttons are, as expected, positioned on the right.
| Weight | Thickness | IP Rating | |
| POCO X7 5G | 190 grams | 8.63mm | IP66 +IP68 +IP69 |
| Moto Edge 50 Neo | 171 grams | 8.1mm | IP68 |
| iQOO Z9s | 182 grams | 7.49mm | IP65 |
The phone has robust dust and water resistance, with IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings, and I tested it out by taking the device with me into my morning showers. The phone still works, and that’s the extent of what I’m willing to push the device through since water and electronics are not a good combo, even if they have elemental protection. The 3D curved display has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, which is quite rare at this price bracket and something to appreciate.
The phone has a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a 1,220 x 2,712p resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The panel is HDR10 certified, has Dolby Vision support, and a 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut, so the panel outputs vibrant images, and content looks excellent. This is one of the best displays I’ve seen at this price bracket, so if you’re someone who consumes a lot of multimedia, you are in for a treat.
The stereo speaker setup is equally impressive as it delivers loud output while retaining clarity even at high volumes. The 3,000 nits peak brightness level is helpful under direct sunlight and ensures the display remains legible. The in-display fingerprint sensor is swift and unlocks even with wet hands, thanks to the Wet Touch 2.0 technology.
| Display | Peak brightness | |
| POCO X7 5G | 6.67-inch AMOLED | 3,000 nits |
| Moto Edge 50 Neo | 6.4-inch pOLED | 2,800 nits |
| iQOO Z9s | 6.78-inch AMOLED | 1,800 nits |
Cameras
The POCO X7 5G comes with a 50MP Sony LYT 600 primary camera with OIS and EIS support, and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens. At the front, you get a 20MP selfie camera for video calls and selfies. The phone takes great daylight images with a good level of detail, decent colour accuracy, and sharpness. While the colours are slightly boosted, the colour correction is done thoughtfully, it enhances the images without making them appear too vivid.
In low light, the phone takes softer images, and the level of detail takes a dip. I tested it out with the AI Night mode feature and while it improves the images, some improvements are imperative. The sharpness isn’t great either, and there’s a decent level of noise present throughout.
The front camera performs similarly and takes good-looking selfies in daylight, but the facial details are smoothed out. In low light, selfies turn out softer and there’s noise present.
I compared the phone’s cameras against a few of its key competitors, and here’s how it went:
Daylight
For daylight shots, both the POCO X7 and Moto Edge 50 Neo (review) are roughly on par with each other. POCO’s colour reproduction is warmer, and it leads to a more appealing picture. The Motorola device does a slightly better job in terms of details, but its image looks dull in comparison. When it comes to colour accuracy, the POCO X7 is closer to reality than its peer.
The daylight shots from the iQOO Z9s and POCO X7 look just about the same when it comes to details and even colours to some extent. The latter boosts the greens and blues a lot, and its image is a tad bit sharper. The iQOO Z9’s image appears closer to what the actual scene looked like if you factor in the colour of the sky, the building etc.
Portraits
For portraits, the Moto Edge 50 Neo has a distinct advantage as it comes with a dedicated telephoto lens. Its portrait shot has better edge detection, but surprisingly, the level of detail remains just about the same. In fact, I prefer the POCO X7’s image since its colours look a lot better in comparison.
The iQOO Z9s takes a more colour-accurate portrait shot, as the POCO X7 adds a red tint to the subject’s skin. The former’s image also has slightly better edge detection, but the clarity isn’t as good as the POCO X7.
Selfie
The POCO X7’s selfies aren’t as good as the Moto Edge 50 Neo’s due to a few factors. The device smooths out the facial details, which the latter highlights nicely. It also brightens up the skin tone slightly, while the Moto Edge 50 Neo maintains a more natural skin tone.
While the iQOO Z9s has vibrant colours in its selfies, it fails to capture facial details as it smooths out the features entirely, while the POCO X7 maintains some level of detail. The skin tone is also brightened up significantly compared to the POCO X7.
Low-light
POCO’s low-light shots aren’t as polished as the Moto Edge 50 Neo. The latter captures a lot more details and has better illumination compared to the POCO X7.
The iQOO Z9s captures better details and presents a sharper picture compared to the POCO X7 in low light. The former, however, takes a lot of liberties when it comes to colours and makes the scene appear unnatural.
Performance and Software
The POCO X7 features a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultra chipset and is paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. While POCO devices are typically known for their performance focus, this model is somewhat different, as it doesn’t dominate in raw power. The phone manages day-to-day tasks, be it streaming shows, using social media, or just general browsing with ease, which is to be expected.
The phone’s performance benchmarks are a little surprising, as it lags behind its similarly specced competitors in numbers. The gaming experience on this device was a mixed bag too.
Playing COD: Mobile and BGMI at high resolutions resulted in frame drops, and the touch response had a slight delay as well. I’m hoping the experience improves with the next OTA update, but as it stands, the gaming experience needs improvement. There’s some good news though; the X7 manages heat well during gaming and runs cooler compared to its peers. Coming to the software experience, the phone boots Android 14-based HyperOS out of the box with some new AI features like Google Gemini, Photomoji, Chat with Gemini, etc.
There are a few more features on the way that will be accessible with upcoming OTA updates. Overall, the software experience is smooth, and the features are useful.
My biggest gripe here is that POCO promises three years of OS updates, which in reality is just two updates since it comes preloaded with Android 14. Android 15 is already available on the Pro variant, and this feels unsettling. The OS also comes with a bunch of pre-loaded apps which makes the device feel cluttered. Thankfully, it is easy to uninstall them if you do not wish to use these apps.
| Pre-installed apps | Software updates | |
| POCO X7 5G | 65 | 3 years OS + 4 years security |
| Moto Edge 50 Neo | 33 | 5 years OS + 5 years security |
| iQOO Z9s | 51 | 2 years OS + 3 years security |
Battery and charging
The POCO X7 comes with a 5,500mAh battery paired with 45W fast charging support. While the battery size is an upgrade, the fast charging speed has been reduced from 67W, which you get in the POCO X6 (review). The device delivers average results in the battery benchmark for its price bracket, though the phone easily lasts an entire day with moderate usage levels. It takes roughly 50 minutes to charge from 20-100 percent, which is a decent result, but a little behind some of its peers.
| Battery | Charging time | |
| POCO X7 5G | 5500mAh | 50 minutes (45W) |
| Moto Edge 50 Neo | 4310mAh | 37 minutes (68W) |
| iQOO Z9s | 5500mAh | 66 minutes (44W) |
Full Verdict
The POCO X7 5G is a good addition to the lineup and has a lot of things going for it. The phone comes in a robust, well-designed chassis, and has a top-notch display, which delivers a great multimedia experience. It also offers decent camera performance in daylight, while the battery backup is equally good.
Its chief competitors include the iQOO Z9s (review) and the Moto Edge 50 Neo (review). The iQOO Z9s is another performance-centric device that comes with a similar processor and is a better performer than the POCO X7 at a cheaper price. It has similar battery life and charging speeds too, but its cameras are a notch behind the POCO X7.
The Moto Edge 50 Neo also comes with a similar chipset and matches the POCO X7’s performance and cameras, but its battery life isn’t as great, so heavy users might feel the pinch. If your priorities lean towards multimedia use, gaming and a long-lasting battery, the POCO X7 5G seems a sensible choice at its price.
Editor’s Rating: 8/10
Reasons to buy
- The POCO X7 has robust build quality with excellent dust and water resistance.
- The phone comes with a great display and stereo speaker setup.
- The device has reliable daylight cameras that take appealing images.
- The POCO X7’s battery life is pretty decent and will easily last an entire day for most users.
Reasons not to buy
- POCO X7’s low-light photography isn’t as good as its competitors.
- Its software can be better with fewer pre-installed apps.
