POCO F6 vs Samsung Galaxy A55 Comparison Review

For under PHP 25,000USD 426INR 36,115EUR 406CNY 3,103, the Samsung Galaxy A55 14 5G sure is one of best contenders out there today. But here comes its greatest competition yet, the newest offering from Xiaomi’s sub-brand, the POCO 49 F6.

For the same price, the POCO F6 26 is packing better specs and extra features on paper. Spoilers ahead: these include a bigger storage capacity, a better AMOLED display, and even a more powerful chipset. However, are these enough to make itself an outstanding choice over the Galaxy A55?

With that, we have the POCO F6 up against the Samsung Galaxy A55 in a comparison review to see which one is the better pick. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

Design and Construction

Design-wise, both phones come with distinct aesthetics. The POCO F6 sports a minimalist design with a flat frame that matches its color with the matte finish backplate that gently curves to the sides. There are two huge camera rings at the top left flanked by a smaller, dual tone LED flash.

The phone is all-plastic, so it doesn’t really exude a premium vibe. POCO does offer a Titanium variant, but the unit we had is in the Green colorway. So, we can’t confirm if that ‘Titanium variant’ has an actual titanium build or if it just pertains to the color.

On the other hand, the Galaxy A55 retains the signature look we’re all familiar with. The back sees three small camera rings lined up vertically on the left along with an LED flash. The back plate is made of glass and the flat frame comes in a brushed aluminum finish, so it feels more premium in the hands.

The only downside? It’s a fingerprint magnet because its back plate comes in a high glossy finish unlike the POCO F6 with a matte finish.

Despite its premium feel, the Galaxy A55 is a bit heftier at 213 grams and 8.2 millimeters depth compared to the POCO F6’s lighter and slimmer build at 179 grams and 7.8 millimeters. This makes the POCO F6 relatively more comfortable in the hands.

For durability, both do have ingress protection: an IP64 for the POCO F6 offering dust and splash resistance, and an IP67 for the Galaxy A55. That’s a stronger IP rating which means it can handle immersion in water as deep as 1 meter for 30 minutes.

In my opinion, the Galaxy A55 wins this round for its combination of a premium feel, a stronger water and scratch resistance, as well as having a sleeker design thanks to its flat aluminum frame. Although, some may prefer the more lightweight and more comfortable build of the POCO F6.

Display and Multimedia

Samsung is known for its stunning AMOLED panels and the Galaxy A55 lives up to that reputation. It features a large 6.6-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

However, the POCO F6 boasts an even crisper display with a tad bit larger 6.67-inch 1.5K Flow AMOLED panel. It goes significantly brighter, maxing out at 2400 nits of peak brightness compared to the A55’s 1000 nits.

When placed side-by-side, the POCO F6 has noticeably thinner and uniform bezels than the Galaxy A55. I might be nitpicking here, but you can also see the Galaxy A55’s chin that’s slightly thicker than the other bezels.

Galaxy A55 (left) and POCO F6 (right)

Despite these differences, both devices offer an enjoyable viewing experience. They are both Widevine L1 certified and support dual stereo speakers as well as Dolby Atmos for richer audio quality. However, the POCO F6 takes it a step further with Dolby Vision support, providing a more immersive viewing experience.

Both also get an added layer of protection with Corning Gorilla Glass, albeit only the Galaxy A55 gets the Victus+ version on both its rear and front panels. The POCO F6 is left with the regular Victus on its display.

In this segment, the POCO F6 clearly outshines the Galaxy A55 in terms of display quality. So, it takes this round without a doubt.

Performance and Benchmarks

Now onto performance, this is where the POCO F6 punches the heaviest. It’s got a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset built on a 4-nanometer process and can reach faster clock speeds of up to 3GHz.

The Galaxy A55 also has a 4-nanometer class chipset, but it’s the Exynos 1480 that reaches slower clock speeds at 2.75GHz.

While both are efficient 4-nanometer chips, our benchmark results reveal a remarkable gap between the two. The POCO F6 simply dominated in all our tests. In AnTuTu, it had double the score of the Galaxy A55.

The POCO F6 even maxed out its score on 3DMark Wild Life, implying it packs a more powerful graphics processing. That’s evident with our other tests as well, again, with double the score in Geekbench GPU benchmarks.

For configuration, the Galaxy A55 is only available with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The POCO F6 comes in two variants: 8GB+256GB and 12GB+512GB version. Notably, its bigger storage option doesn’t go over the PHP 25,000USD 426INR 36,115EUR 406CNY 3,103 price range, so that’s impressive.

Good thing the Galaxy A55 compensates with support for microSD card, but expandable storage can’t match the speed of built-in storage. This leads us back to our benchmark results with the POCO F6 getting higher scores and faster speeds in AnTuTu storage test.

Numbers aside, both devices will handle your everyday tasks just fine. However, expect the POCO F6 to excel at handling more graphically intensive tasks with ease. Not to mention, the phone adds a heat dissipation system to maintain cool operation.

With that said, the POCO F6 takes the lead, mainly due to its more powerful raw performance.

Cameras

Moving on to cameras, the Galaxy A55 has a slight edge… on paper. It packs a triple rear system led by a 50-megapixel main shooter with optical image stabilization, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 5-megapixel macro lens.

The POCO F6 only has a dual rear setup with a 50-megapixel main camera that also supports optical image stabilization complemented with an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens.

Taking a look at our sample shots, both phones output images with good clarity but with varying color reproduction. The POCO F6 mostly leans to warmer tones whereas the Galaxy A55 captures near accurate colors. The former also has better handling of dynamic range for most of the shots we’ve taken.

At night, the POCO F6 produces better images with less noise and the light sources aren’t blown out that much as compared to the Galaxy A55.

In terms of video capabilities, the Galaxy A55 is capped at 4K 30 fps, while the POCO F6 gets 4K 60 fps limit. Both phones capture decent videos, however, the Galaxy A55 seems to struggle focusing especially on low light scenarios. Stabilization is smooth on the POCO F6 but not that good on the Galaxy A55 with a bit of a wobble for as little movement as just going for a walk.

Take a look at some sample shots captured by the POCO F6 and the Galaxy A55, as seen in their written reviews below:

• POCO F6 Review
• Samsung Galaxy A55 5G Review: Still a Bestseller?

Overall, both phones offer good cameras, but the POCO F6’s main camera performed way better than I expected. The Galaxy A55 offers more versatility through with its triple camera system in the addition of a macro lens.

Personally, while I don’t really use the macro lens as often, it should be helpful for some close-up shots. With that, I’ll give it a tie in the camera department.

Battery Life

Battery-wise, both phones pack the usual 5,000mAh capacity with the Galaxy A55 having support for 25W wired charging and the POCO F6 with a significantly faster 90W wired charging.

Under typical use, both phones should comfortably last a full day on a single charge. But to provide a more precise comparison, of course, we have our battery life tests to reference with.

In our PCMark battery life test, the POCO F6 pumped out 13 hours and 25 minutes. The Galaxy A55 is on par at 13 hours and 12 minutes.

In our proprietary video loop test where we play a Full HD movie on mute, with 50% brightness and set to airplane mode, the former lasted 18 hours and 34 minutes and the latter is even longer at 22 hours and 46 minutes of battery life.

While that sounds good, battery life still depends on the end user. If you’re like me who’s always on my phone playing games and watching content, then you’ll likely appreciate the POCO F6’s faster 90W charging. This advantage allows for quicker top ups, minimizing downtime.

This puts the POCO F6 on a two-point lead in this matchup and we have two more categories to talk about.

Connectivity and Other Features

On the software side, both phones run Android 14 out of the box. The POCO F6 runs on Xiaomi HyperOS and the Galaxy A55 runs on One UI 6.1.

Each offers a unique flavor of Android, and I must say both are really good. Bloatware on both phones is given but you can easily get rid of them anyway.

What’s interesting is the POCO F6 has a couple of added quirks like the smart sensing feature, specifically the air gesture as well as some AI-powered features in the Gallery app. Some users may find these features useful but for me, not really.

The thing that matters more to me is software support and Samsung is exactly good at this. The Galaxy A55 comes with a longer update policy with four major OS upgrades and five years of security updates — matching the company’s treatment with their flagship devices.

Update policy on the POCO F6 is not so bad with three major OS upgrades and four years of security patches.

For biometrics, both phones get an under-display fingerprint sensor. Another notable feature of the POCO F6 is an IR blaster which is pretty common in Xiaomi devices.

While the F6 definitely has more features to look into, it’s generally better for phones to have longer software support. So, the Galaxy A55 takes this round.

Which one should you get?

Now, we go back to the question, is the POCO F6 an outstanding choice over the Galaxy A55? Short answer is yes.

On paper alone, the POCO F6 offers more to the table, coming in at PHP 24,999USD 426INR 36,114EUR 406CNY 3,102, it boasts a whopping 512GB on-board storage, and a superior processing power complemented with an above-average camera system.

For the same price at PHP 24,990USD 426INR 36,101EUR 406CNY 3,101, the Samsung Galaxy A55 is still a top-notch all-rounder emphasized by its more premium build, and a software support that outlasts the competition.

Ultimately, it is a matter of choice between practicality and luxury. Both are in the premium mid-range segment, yes, but they cater to different preferences. And the decision depends on what matters most to you.

So, are you Team POCO or Team Galaxy at least in this comparison, and why? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

POCO F6 vs Samsung Galaxy A55 5G specs: