The new Poco F5 and F5 Pro phones are a good example of the value for money that defines the F-series. They’re priced in the mid-range but equipped as year-old flagships in many respects besides the camera.
The Poco F5 Pro brings the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 to $450. That’s about the same price as a Galaxy A54 or Pixel 7a. It also has a 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED display, which none of these phones have — it’s more of a Galaxy S23 Ultra/Pixel 7 Pro feature (not even the S23+ or Pixel 7). These Samsung and Google phones can only dream of having 67W wired and 30W wireless charging, their parent companies are too conservative for that.
We said the camera is nothing special and it isn’t. It’s not bad mind you, the 64MP main with OIS and the 8MP ultra wide angle look solid for the mid-range. We haven’t reviewed the Pro model yet, but we were pleased with its vanilla sibling’s camera (more on that in a bit).
Highlights of Poco F5 Pro
One drawback of the Poco F5 Pro is that Xiaomi has only committed to 2 OS updates and 3 years of security patches. The Galaxy A54 gets 4 OS updates and 5 years of security patches, the Pixel 7a gets 3 OS updates and 5 years of patches. Even if you like MIUI, it’s not great: the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 will be powerful for more than 3 years, at least looking at mid-rangers.
Samsung Galaxy A54 • Google Pixel 7a • Sony Xperia 10 V • Motorola Edge 40
What do you think of the Poco F5 Pro: if you’re looking for a mid-ranger, is it the one to have?
The Poco F5 has an MSRP of $380 / ₹30,000 and uses the new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2. This may be a 7-series chip, but in terms of CPU and GPU it’s more like a clocked 8+ Gen 1 lower than it is like the original 7 Gen 1.
Use a slower modem, X62 instead of X65, although there’s a slim chance you’ll notice a difference. The lack of 4K @ 60fps and any 8K mode is most noticeable.
Highlights of Poco F5
Another big difference between the F5 and the F5 Pro is that the Vanilla model drops to FHD+ resolution for its 6.67″ 120Hz AMOLED display and the fingerprint reader moves from below the display to the power button on the side. What’s more, the battery is slightly smaller (5,000mAh versus 5,160mAh), and while it has the same support for 67W wired charging, it lacks wireless.
On the plus side, the Poco F5 has a 3.5mm headphone jack, complete with Hi-Res Audio certification. Neither the F4 nor the F5 Pro have it (the same goes for most phones these days).
Samsung Galaxy A34 • OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite • vivo iQOO Neo 7 • Realme GT Neo 3T
Is the Poco F5 better value for money than the F5 Pro, or do you think neither should be mid-range? Before answering, don’t miss our written review and our video review.
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