The Poco F6 packs a lot of smartphone for a lot less money. The choice of chip alone makes its a standout and sought-after choice in the Rs 30,000 price segment. The Poco F6 sports a flagship-grade Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, never seen before in its price range. There are other niceties, too, including an IP64 build, 120Hz AMOLED display, 50-megapixel primary camera with OIS, Android 14, stereo speakers, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 90W fast charging.
Despite all the upgrades, the base variant of the Poco F6 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs only Rs 29,999. Even the top-end 12GB/512GB model is only Rs 33,999.
But that is not to say that the Poco F6 is perfect. The design is uninspired, generic if you will, and the phone has meddling battery life. Its camera could be better, too. While we’re nitpicking, the phone could have done with better haptics as well. Over and above, there’s the thing about personal preferences. What if you don’t want to buy a Poco phone? What do you do then? What do you get if you have a budget of say around Rs 30,000? Fret not because options galore.
Here are 5 top Poco F6 alternatives that offer terrific bang for your buck:
- Realme GT 6T: Poco has obviously undercut Realme in pricing but to be completely fair, the Realme GT 6T offers better hardware including an LTPO AMOLED screen and faster 120W charging at a slightly higher price, which is fair game. Its Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 is no slouch either. At the end of the day, it would all narrow down to personal preferences as both phones have their own merits and some trade offs, too. The Realme GT 6T for instance doesn’t have any IP rating. The Poco F6 has IP64. So on and so forth. But in the broader scheme of things, the Realme GT 6T offers great value— it has a better design, a remarkable display, fast and fluid performance, and good battery life. The Realme GT 6T comes in a choice of 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB, 12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB for Rs 30,999, Rs 32,999, Rs 35,999 and Rs 39,999 respectively.
- Moto Edge 50 Pro: The Moto Edge 50 Pro is a “unicorn” which is to say that its specs and design would have you believe that it is fictional—far from it. It is real and it exists to prove to everyone else that it is still possible to get unbelievable specs and unbelievable prices. The Moto Edge 50 Pro comes in a choice of 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB for Rs 30,999 and Rs 34,999. For the price, you get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 processor (same as the Realme GT 6T), 144Hz pOLED display, IP68 dust and water resistance, and fast wired (125W) and wireless (50W) charging. Running the show is Motorola’s new Hello UI software based on Android 14. If that wasn’t enough, Motorola gives you a whole ”sensorial” experience with the packaging making premium luxury more accessible to the masses.
- Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus: The Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus comes in a choice of 8GB/256GB, 12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB for Rs 30,999, Rs 32,999 and Rs 34,999 respectively. It is the most expensive Redmi phone to launch in India but then it has hardware and styling to back it up. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. The chassis is IP68 rated. And you get a whopping 200-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation on the back. Xiaomi also sells a limited “World champions edition”, just in case you’re a fan of the AFA. The Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus has a 120Hz AMOLED screen, MediaTek’s Dimensity 7200 Ultra processor, and a 5,000mAh battery with 120W fast charging.
- iQOO Neo 9 Pro: The iQOO Neo 9 Pro comes in a choice of 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB for Rs 34,999, Rs 36,999 and Rs 38,999 respectively. Like the Realme GT 6T, it costs a wee bit more than the Poco F6 but this “OnePlus 12R killer” smartphone gets you the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, last year’s flagship Qualcomm processor. iQOO has also paired it to a 6043mm2 vapour chamber cooling setup and a “supercomputing” Q1 chip to pull off 144fps interpolation (the maximum that the iQOO Neo 9 Pro’s screen can support) in games. Speaking of which, the screen is also very powerful. It’s a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED with local peak brightness of 3,000 nits. For photography, the iQOO Neo 9 Pro uses the Vivo X100’s primary 50-megapixel Sony IMX920 camera sensor with high-end features like 4K night video and landscape moon. It would be a shame to not mention it in this list.
- OnePlus Nord 3: Ideally, it should have been the OnePlus 12R but since it starts at Rs 40,000, we have no choice but to end this list with the OnePlus Nord 3. It’s not as powerful and feature packed but then it’s got all the essentials plus the “OnePlus branding” which is a big selling point of these phones anyway. Currently, OnePlus only sells the OnePlus Nord 3 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage at a price of Rs 33,999. We reckon this is because the OnePlus Nord 4 is coming soon. The OnePlus Nord 3 has a 120Hz AMOLED display, MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 and a 5,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging.
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