Xiaomi spin-off brand Poco launched the Poco X3 in India on Tuesday at a starting price of Rs 16,999. Like the Poco X2 before it, the Poco X3 also has the same class-leading tall 6.67-inch 120Hz display but there is a faster processor and a bigger battery with even faster wired charging under the hood in addition to other upgrades, making it truly stand out over its predecessor in more ways than one. Like always, Poco is also highlighting the phone’s minimal, ad-free software even though it is built on top of Xiaomi’s MIUI 12.
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Poco X3 India price, availability
The Poco X3 will be available in three configurations when it goes on sale for the first time on September 29 on Flipkart. The base variant of the phone which comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage will sell for Rs 16,999 while its top-end model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage will cost Rs 19,999. There will also be a third option with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage that will be available for Rs 18,499.
Poco X3 hardware, design
For that kind of price, the Poco X3 will get you a 6.67-inch IPS LCD display with a 1080p+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate (240Hz touch sampling), and support for HDR10. An interesting bit about the Poco X3’s display is that, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 phones, it is also capable of automatically adjusting to the available content to offer the best possible refresh rate as a measure to save battery life. Poco calls it “dynamic” switch and says refresh rate will be 50Hz for static images, 60Hz for videos, and between 60 and 120Hz for gaming. Rounding off that display is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection and a centrally positioned punch hole cut-out housing a 20MP selfie camera.
The other big highlight of the Poco X3 is that it is the world’s first smartphone to be equipped with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 732G processor. The Snapdragon 732G has a faster CPU compared to the Snapdragon 730G seen inside the Poco X2. The Adreno 618 GPU inside the Snapdragon 732G is also claimed to be 15% faster in terms of graphics rendering. Poco is pairing this with a new liquid cool plus technology with a 70% larger heat pipe in comparison to the Poco F1 for sustained performance. The phone has up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage which is also expandable.
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The Poco X3 also has a large 6,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.
For photography, the Poco X3 has four cameras on the back, 64MP main (IMX682), 13MP ultra wide-angle, and two 2MP cameras, one for macros and another for portraits.
Poco has also tweaked the design in the Poco X3 somewhat, though it is still retaining key Poco X2 elements like a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, IR blaster, and headphone jack. A notable omission is the glass back though Poco is instead offering IP53 splash-resistance, dual stereo speakers and Qualcomm aptX HD support to lessen the blow.
The Poco X3 at its price of under Rs 20,000 is the fastest (and one of the most powerful) phones in the Indian market today. It will compete with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 9 Pro and Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, Realme 7 Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy M31s. Watch this space for our full review of the Poco X3 in the days to come.
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