POCO has just launched the POCO M6 Pro 4G in the Philippines. The three-year-old independent smartphone company’s latest M-series offering to hit our local shores.
The M6 Pro (4G) brings a blend of powerful performance and an impressive display and is the first in the POCO M-lineup to feature Optical Image Stabilization in its 64MP main camera, a sought-after camera feature in the mid-range segment.
We got our hands early on a review unit to help you make a purchasing decision.
Table of Contents
Design and Construction
Starting off with the POCO M6 Pro’s build and design — it boasts a nice and lightweight form factor, weighing in at about 180 grams, and it gets an IP54 splash and dust resistance rating.
Our review unit is this purple variant, and it looks pretty good in general. It’s also available in Black and Blue if you want something a little less flamboyant.
In front we get this nice 6.67-inch FHD+ display that gets almost-symmetrical bezels all around, with a little bit of allowance at the corners, and a punch-hole selfie camera embedded at the top center.
The display also features Corning Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection to add to the M6 Pro’s screen durability, but we still recommend a screen protector of course because glass is still glass.
The volume rocker and power button are situated on the right side, and the hybrid dual SIM card tray is on the right. On top is a noise-canceling mic for audio input, an infrared sensor for using the M6 Pro as a remote, followed by a speaker grille for 1 out of 2 stereo speakers, and a 3.5mm audio jack, that’s always lovely to see.
At the bottom is another microphone, a USB Type-C port for charging and wired data transfers, and 2 out of 2 stereo speakers.
Moving over to the rear and we get to gaze over the tasteful two-tone impression of the rear panel, our eyes immediately focus on the two large camera sensors, and next to them are the macro sensors and POCO M6 branding.
The rear panel is made out of polycarbonate but it overall feels solid, with the matte portion of the rear being less-prone to fingerprints.
Overall, it’s build is solid but its dimensions aren’t my favorite, and I wouldn’t want to be dipping this phone deep in toilet bowls either.
Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics
Although, the POCO M6 Pro 4G’s 6.67-inch Flow AMOLED display is definitely worth having in this form-factor; offering vibrant visuals with nice color reproduction and contrast, it even features a dynamic refresh rate that can go from 60 to 120Hz depending on what you’re doing, for better battery consumption.
This, coupled with an instant touch sampling rate of 2160Hz, ensures smooth scrolling and precise touch responses, which is great for mobile gaming.
Overall, watching videos and consuming content like playing games, is a pleasant experience on the M6 Pro 4G’s display, paired up with dual stereo speakers that aren’t the best in the market, but definitely still get points for loud mids, and deliver a satisfactory auditory experience for mixed media consumption.
And if you wanted more boost and audio immersion, having a little more flexibility for wired headphones or earphones through the 3.5mm audio jack is always great to have.
The M6 Pro 4G features an optical in-display fingerprint scanner at the bottom portion of the display, it’s in a comfortable spot but could be placed a bit higher in my opinion.
But it works great in everyday use, and we definitely trust this more than the optical Ai face unlock option available, which actually also unlocks the phone quick and accurately.
I know there are some wizards out there who like to use both biometric security options together, and there’s no shame in that either.
Cameras
Jumping into the M6 Pro 4G’s camera system, its main triple camera system is equipped with a 64MP main sensor that features OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), an 8MP ultra-wide, and 2MP macro sensor.
In the punch-hole in front resides the 16MP selfie camera. The camera app itself adds a myriad of beauty and image filters to add somewhat of a creative touch to the photos users may take for social media posting.
But all in all, images made with the M6 Pro 4G by default, without any beauty features, come out relatively good especially in optimal lighting conditions.
Pictures look sharp with vibrancy in the colors and details are well preserved with a punch in contrast.
And it’s also worth mentioning that photo quality can bump down to watercolor painting-like in less than favorable lighting conditions.
For video, the M6 Pro 4G’s main camera system supports shooting up to 4K at 60 fps and up to 1080p at 60 fps with the front-facing sensor. Video quality can come out with that processed look but is definitely still worth while for everyday documentation.
OS, Apps, and UI
I think retail units are supposed to be running on Xiaomi’s new HyperOS, based on Android 14. But at the time of this writing, our POCO M6 Pro 4G hasn’t gotten the update yet.
However, our X6 Pro unit have gotten it; so to get better insights into HyperOS, feel free to read about it in our POCO X6 Pro review 131.
From what I’ve seen and gotten to play with though HyperOS adds sought-after functionality to Xiaomi and POCO handsets, I’m still not the biggest fan of the interface.
MIUI 14 and HyperOS aren’t the only ones that do this mind you, but I’m certainly not a fan of all the bloatware pre-installed, and I also don’t like the app drawer if you guys use those, my experience with the app drawer, especially if you turn on the Ai search thing is kinda clunky.
Turning it off makes it better but yeah, still not the biggest fan here.
Either way, it’s a usable interface with a lot of customizability, allowing users to change the theme and overall look of your interface; With the addition of nifty shortcuts.
When playing games a Game Turbo side menu pops-up to give users useful features to better the overall performance of the game you’re playing.
If your unit doesn’t come with HyperOS at lunch, it should be upgradable at a future date.
Performance and Benchmarks
Powering the M6 Pro 4G is a MediaTek Helio G99-Ultra 6nm chipset that features an octa-core CPU capable of up to 2.2GHz paired with a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
It’s configured with LPDDR4X memory and UFS 2.2 internal storage in either a 8GB + 256GB, or 12GB + 512GB configuration (RAM + storage.)
And it also features Memory Extension 3.0 for extended RAM of up to 8GB, totaling to a potential of 20GB of RAM with the highest configuration.
In sacrifice of the phone’s second SIM slot, users can also opt for expandable storage of up to 1TB via a microSD card.
We’ve played our usual suspects for mobile gaming, like Mobile Legends and Genshin Impact, and the M6 Pro 4G handled them pretty well.
Playing on the 120Hz AMOLED panel looks great in general for the most part. And with Genshin Impact we were able to set the graphics to LOW and not Lowest which is what it’s set to by default when first starting up the game.
The phone runs on a client at 30fps with the phone outputting 60Hz when playing.
For those interested in our Synthetic Benchmark scores you may check them out below.
| Device: | POCO M6 Pro 4G |
|---|---|
| Chipset: | MediaTek Helio G99-Ultra |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Antutu v10.1.8 | 427,772 |
| Geekbench Single-Core | 728 |
| Geekbench Multi-Core | 1,923 |
| Geekbench OpenCL | 1,273 |
| Geekbench Vulkan | 1,274 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 10,557 |
| Antutu Storage Test v10.1.8 | 50,252 |
Battery and Connectivity
Moving over to the M6 Pro 4G’s battery life, under the rear panel it sports a substantial 5,000mAh lithium-ion cell, which does seem to be the norm nowadays.
It is also capable of 67W turbo charging, another first in the POCO M-series, with the charging brick included in the box.
And the M6 Pro’s battery charges up from 0 – 100% in about 45 minutes with the mentioned charger.
Running our battery benchmarks with the device set to Airplane Mode, 50% brightness and muted to account for uncontrolled discrepancies.
In our PCMark Work 3.0 battery test, the phone lasted 12 hours and 39 minutes, while in our standard video loop test, the M6 Pro 4G lasted 11 hours and 51 minutes.
In real-world use this translates to like most phones out there, having to charge the device before going to bed every night, with the battery-usage severely eaten up by Waze when in use.
If you’re an Android Auto user, this also becomes somewhat of a non-issue if you leave your screen turned off anyways. And the same can be said for it if you leave your phone charging while using it as a Nav as well.
Essentially, battery life on the M6 Pro 4G isn’t superb but it’s not too shabby nonetheless.
For connectivity, the smartphone gets support for up to 4G on both SIM slots, and compatibility with various LTE bands. The device also features Bluetooth 5.2, and standard dual band Wi-Fi protocols, and NFC.
The lack of 5G isn’t the biggest deal breaker for me, especially for the trade off in performance, features, and cost.
We never ran into any real issues when it came to making phone calls all throughout our review.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the POCO M6 Pro (4G) establishes itself as a feature-packed contender in the mid-range segment.
It offers a nice large display, great performance, and a good set of cameras perfect for social media posting and quick documentation.
The POCO M6 Pro 4G is officially available in the Philippines for PHP 11,999 (8GB + 256GB) and Php 13,999 (12GB + 512GB).
These are great prices for a decent phone that delivers good value for its cost, and presents itself as somewhat of an equalizer in the midrange segment.
So to finish this video off, POCO once again delivers a device that offers good functionality for its cost with the POCO M6 Pro 4G. We recommend it for users on 2-year smartphone buying cycles within a mid-range budget.
What we Liked:
- 120Hz AMOLED display.
- FAST storage.
- IR blaster (for use as a remote).
- Dual STEREO speakers
- 3.5mm audio jack
What we Liked LESS:
- Pre-installed apps.
- Clunky software bugs.
- Battery life.
POCO M6 Pro 4G specs:
6.67-inch FHD+ Flow AMOLED DotDisplay (resolution 2400 x 1080 pixels)
120Hz refresh rate, 2160Hz sampling rate
MediaTek Helio G99-Ultra, 6nm chipset (capable of up to 2.2GHz)
ARM Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
8GB, 12GB LPDDR4X RAM
256GB, 512GB UFS 2.2 internal storage
Expandable via microSD up to 1TB (hybrid slot)
64MP f/1.7, OIS main camera
8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide camera
2MP f/2.4 macro camera
16MP front camera
MIUI 14 based off Android 13 (upgradable to Xiaomi HyperOS)
5,000mAh Li-Po battery
67W wired turbo charging
Dual nano SIM card
4G/3G/2G
Dual-band Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 5.2
Optical in-display fingerprint sensor
Dual speakers
AI Face Unlock
IR blaster
NFC
3.5mm headphone jack
IP54 splash-proof protection
179 grams (weight)
161.1mm x 74.95mm x 7.98mm (dimensions)
Colors: Black, Blue, Purple
