POCO X5 Pro

The POCO X5 Pro is an excellent example of how cheap good phones have become. You get a phone with plenty of premium features for relatively little money, especially compared to some high-end flagships. Which ones exactly, and are there any downsides you can read about here.

Plastic Fantastic

To get right to the point, POCO cut back on materials to get a cheap phone with such specifications. The back and frame are plastic. The front, however, is of the sturdy Gorilla Glass, but the outdated version 5. By the way, none of this is problematic. Plastic may be cheap, but it lasts long and can take a beating. It is also lightweight, which is reflected in the overall weight. At 181 grams, the X5 Pro is not even as heavy as you might expect.

Premium display for this amount

Up front, we find a giant screen. It measures a spacious 6.67 inches and has a sharp FHD+ resolution of 2400 by 1080 pixels. Images look clear even outdoors, thanks to the maximum brightness of 900 nits. Movements are refreshed 120 times per second, making animations look very smooth—all in all, premium features are thankfully becoming more commonplace. Poco has spoon-fed a Snapdragon 778G into the device, a chipset with eight cores up to 2.4GHz. The amount of RAM is closely related to the amount of storage memory: 6GB for the model with 128GB of storage and 8GB for the one with 256 GB.

Main POCO X5 Pro specifications

• 6.67-inch Flow DotDiplay with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz display
• 108MP main cam, 8MP wide angle (120°) and 2MP macro camera + 4K video
• 16MP selfie camera
• 6+128 or 8+256GB of RAM and storage (not expandable)
• Powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor at max. 2.4GHz
• Large 5000mAh battery with fast 67W charging

Camera system has one black sheep

On the back of the X5 Pro, we find a triple camera system of which the 108MP primary camera is the big star. That one will shoot most of your photos. There is also an 8MP ultra-wide-angle with a 120° wide angle. With that, you can capture an entire landscape in one image. It's always handy to have. Unfortunately, we see the third camera in a negative light more often. It is a so-called filler camera. The 2MP macro camera adds little because of the low resolution and extreme close-ups of insects, which are often not made daily. Selfies you shoot with a higher resolution of 16MP and video, the X5 Pro can shoot in up to 4K.

Pro and cons POCO X5 Pro

• Bright 120Hz screen
• Fast 67W charging
• Good 108MP camera
• Strong performance

• Lots of plastic, unclear update policy