Two of the newest Snapdragon 8s Gen 3-powered smartphones are the HONOR 200 Pro and the vanilla POCO F6. While their respective price points are quite far from each other, they can go head-to-head especially in terms of viewing experience and processing power.
One comes at under PHP 20,000 and the other crosses at a heftier price tag at PHP 30,000. With that much of a difference, we sure can expect some advantages that the costlier option has in store.
So, we are putting the HONOR 200 Pro up against the vanilla POCO F6 in a comparison review to find out which one is the better pick.
Table of Contents
Design and Construction
Starting with design, both phones serve a minimalist approach but only one piques more interest to me.
The HONOR 200 Pro has this subtle two-tone texture on the back. Most of the backplate is matte and features a wave-like pattern, hence the “Ocean Cyan” colorway that we have in the studio. Only a portion on the left where the camera island sits is in glossy finish.
Speaking of its camera island, it is rather eccentric featuring an oval shape that houses its triple camera setup. The phone’s chassis is made of glass, so it feels more premium in the hands and it’s comfortable to hold as well thanks to its curved edges.
It even gets a stronger IP65 rating for dust and water resistance.
On the other hand, the POCO F6 also comes with a comfortable build. Its backplate has curved edges too albeit it’s made of plastic — taking away its premium feel. The frame feels weirdly like metal but surprisingly, it’s made of the same plastic material.
As for its appearance, the POCO F6 adopts a simpler design with a plain, matte finish covering its entire back panel. I personally like this design change as compared to last year’s POCO F5 that featured a glossy back panel. However, gone are the three cameras as the F6 now only comes with a dual rear setup.
While retaining the same camera layout, the two large camera rings are more flush or level this time. And the space previously occupied by the third camera now houses a circular dual-tone LED flash.
As for durability, the F6 gets a lower IP64 rating which only provides protection against dust and some water splashes. Our unit is in the Green colorway but its hue may change to almost blue or even silver depending on the lighting.
Design-wise, the HONOR 200 Pro clearly takes this round thanks to its unique design language, and a stronger, more premium build.
Display and Multimedia
Flip to the front, both phones sport Full HD+ AMOLED panels running at a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Both also have extremely thin uniform bezels to boot.
The HONOR 200 Pro has a 6.78-inch “quad-curved” AMOLED display which is unlike any of the curved displays we’ve seen before. “Quad” meaning it curves on all four sides, however, the curvature is still somewhat more pronounced giving room for unwanted glares.
Up top, we have a pill-shaped notch that reminds me well of Apple’s Dynamic Island. This houses a dual selfie camera setup which we’ll talk more about later in this article.
The phone has a peak brightness of up to 4000 nits but take note, this is only useful when watching certain HDR content. Honor mentioned an “Aluminosilicate glass” material on the display which is likely scratch-resistant providing an added layer of display protection.
Meanwhile, the POCO F6 features a tad bit smaller 6.67-inch AMOLED screen that is flat and can reach a peak brightness of up to 2400 nits. It’s covered with a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for scratch resistance, and it has the usual hole punch cutout at the top.
Despite the minor differences, you can expect an enjoyable viewing experience on both models. Both are HDR-certified and have Widevine L1, however only the POCO F6 has Dolby Vision support. Additionally, both phones feature dual stereo speakers.
Aside from those, neither of the phones has the upper hand in my opinion. While I could argue that having a flat display on the POCO F6 is generally better, some may prefer the curved display as it gives the illusion of having an almost bezel-less screen. With that, I’ll give it a tie this round.
Performance and Benchmarks
Now onto performance, this is where both are supposedly equal in terms of processing power. Both the HONOR 200 Pro and the POCO F6 are powered by the same chipset, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. It’s a near-flagship, 4-nanometer chip from Qualcomm and can reach a maximum clock speed of up to 3.0GHz.
As for configuration, both units we reviewed come with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. These parameters tell us there is no way that they differ in performance, right? Well, almost. Our benchmark results reveal some very minor gaps in performance.
In AnTuTu, the POCO F6 achieved a higher score at over 1.4 million points as compared to the HONOR 200 Pro’s still impressive 1.1 million points. Although for other tests, the latter was able to get slightly higher scores, and both managed to max out the score in 3DMark Wild Life test.
| Benchmark | HONOR 200 Pro | POCO F6 |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 |
| AnTuTu V10 | 1,163,791 | 1,407,849 |
| 3DMark Wild Life | MAXED OUT | MAXED OUT |
| Geekbench 6 Single-Core | 1946 | 1871 |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Multi-Core | 5000 | 4683 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU OpenCL | N/A | 7378 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU Vulkan | 8646 | 8479 |
| PC Mark Work 3.0 performance | 15,908 | 15,838 |
Numbers aside, both phones should be great for your day-to-day usage and of course, gaming. We tried playing some games on both models — be it low-demanding or graphic intensive titles like Genshin Impact — and they all ran smoothly.
There were no noticeable frame drops even if the phones slightly got a bit warmer in our gaming sessions. So, in terms of performance, I’ll give it another tie.
Cameras
For optics, the HONOR 200 Pro holds a major advantage. It boasts a more versatile triple camera system consisting of a 50-megapixel main sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS); another 50-megapixel telephoto lens with OIS as well; and a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor.
At the front, it has a dual selfie setup led by yet another 50-megapixel camera complemented by a 2-megapixel depth sensor.
In contrast, the POCO F6 is left with a dual rear setup headlined by a 50-megapixel main and an 8-megapixel ultrawide shooter. For selfies, it sports a 20-megapixel camera at the front.
On paper, the HONOR 200 Pro definitely offers better camera capabilities, and it shows. It can effectively capture great shots of various subjects that almost look like they were taken from a DSLR.
However, it’s worth noting that the HONOR 200 Pro’s camera app has an AI enhancement feature enabled by default. This technology, common in Honor phones, enhances overall image quality for a well-balanced look.
Despite having a less flexible camera setup, the POCO F6 still performs quite well. It produces clear images with accurate color reproduction and a non-aggressive auto-HDR for natural-looking photos. Both phones can record up to 4K video at 60 frames per second using their main rear cameras, and their OIS support ensures steady footage.
In the camera department, the HONOR 200 Pro clearly outshines the POCO F6, earning a two-point lead in this comparison.
Check out the sample shots of each phone as seen in their written reviews below:
Battery Life
Battery-wise, the HONOR 200 Pro, again, has the upper hand. It uses a new kind of battery called “silicon-carbon” or Si-Ca battery. However, its benefits aside from containing more capacity in a given space remain to be seen.
Nevertheless, it houses a slightly larger 5,200mAh battery and supports faster 100W wired charging, as well as 66W wireless charging. The POCO F6 is still commendable, equipped with a standard 5,000mAh battery and 90W fast charging.
Surprisingly, our PCMark battery life test revealed that the POCO F6 outlasted the HONOR 200 Pro by an hour, with results of 13 hours and 25 minutes compared to 12 hours and 28 minutes, respectively.
Despite this, I would still give the point to the HONOR 200 Pro for its slightly bigger battery and the convenience of having a wireless charging feature.
Connectivity and Other Features
Out of the box, both the HONOR 200 Pro and the POCO F6 run Android 14 skinned with MagicOS 8.0 and Xiaomi HyperOS, respectively. Both are undeniably good software, especially considering the improvements they’ve gone through over the years.
The POCO F6 uses the full-fledged HyperOS skin as it should be while the HONOR 200 Pro still has a close liking to Huawei’s HarmonyOS or EMUI skin.
A software highlight that I really liked would be the addition of a dynamic island feature. The animations are smooth, and it pretty much looks like the real deal. The POCO F6, unfortunately, doesn’t have a similar feature as of yet.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of the HONOR 200 Pro in terms of software is its longer update policy. Honor promises up to four years of major OS upgrades and five years of security patches. In comparison, the POCO F6 only gets up to three years of software updates and four years of security patches.
For connectivity, the HONOR 200 Pro has another feature up its sleeve. It utilizes a radio frequency (RF) enhancement chip called the HONOR C1+ which enhances antenna transmission by up to 17% and antenna reception by up to 35%. Or in simpler terms, it can cover wider network coverage than the average phone.
Moving on, both have the essentials including 5G connectivity, NFC, and Wi-Fi 6. As for other features, both support under-display fingerprint sensor for biometrics along with face unlock. And interestingly, the HONOR 200 Pro also has an Infrared remote-control feature which is often found in Xiaomi devices.
In this segment, the HONOR 200 Pro once again takes the point mainly because it has longer software support.
Which one should you get?
So, there you have it, a battle of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 titans, the HONOR 200 Pro and the POCO F6. While both phones deliver impressive performance and stunning displays, it’s clear that HONOR has packed a premium punch into the 200 Pro.
From its refined design and versatile camera system to its extended software support and other nifty features, the HONOR 200 Pro emerges as the clear victor in this head-to-head showdown. As it should be, since it comes at a hefty price of PHP 29,999.
Perhaps the POCO F6’s biggest trump card is its excellent value for money. Starting at only PHP 18,799, it presents itself as a compelling option for those who want a near-flagship experience for a significantly lower price tag.
Ultimately, the best choice depends on your priorities. If you’re willing to splurge for the bigger package, the HONOR 200 Pro is the way to go. But if value for money is your top concern, the POCO F6 definitely holds its ground.
HONOR 200 Pro vs POCO F6 specs
| HONOR 200 Pro | POCO F6 |
|---|---|
| 6.78-inch FHD+ Quad-Curved AMOLED | 6.67-inch 1.5K Flow AMOLED display |
| 2700 x 1224 pixels, 120Hz, 437 ppi | 2712 x 1220 pixels, 120Hz, 446 ppi |
| 4000 nits (HDR peak) brightness | 1200 nits (HBM), 2400 nits (peak) brightness |
| Aluminosilicate glass | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 |
| 4nm, octa-core, up to 3.0GHz | 4nm, octa-core, up to 3.0GHz |
| 12GB RAM | 8GB, 12GB LPDDR5x RAM |
| 512GB storage | 256GB, 512GB UFS 4.0 storage |
| Triple rear cameras: | Dual rear cameras: |
| - 50MP f/1.9 main, OIS | - 50MP F/1.59 Sony IMX882 main, OIS |
| - 50MP f/2.4 telephoto, OIS | - 8MP ultrawide |
| - 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide | |
| 50MP f/2.1 selfie shooter | 20MP f/2.2 selfie shooter (hole punch notch) |
| Dual SIM, eSIM | Dual nano-SIM |
| 5G, 4G LTE, RF Enhanced Chip HONOR C1+ | 5G, 4G LTE |
| Wi-Fi 6, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax | Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax |
| Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.4 |
| GPS/ AGPS/ GLONASS/ BeiDou/ Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| NFC | NFC |
| Under-display fingerprint sensor, face unlock | Under-display fingerprint sensor, face unlock |
| IP65 dust and water resistance | IP64 dust and water resistance |
| Stereo speakers, infrared remote control | Dual stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos/Vision, IR blaster |
| MagicOS 8.0 (Android 14) | Xiaomi HyperOS |
| 5200mAh Si-Ca battery | 5000mAh battery |
| 100W charging (wired) | 90W charging (wired) |
| 66W wireless | N/A |
| 163.3 x 75.2 x 8.2 mm | 160.5 x 74.4 x 7.8 mm |
| 199g | 179g |
| Ocean Cyan,Black | Black, Green, Titanium color |
