Here’s the crux of the matter: The POCO X5 and X5 Pro have been released with Snapdragon processors. The Xiaomi POCO X5 Pro is the direct successor to the X4 Pro, which was released around the same time last year. The chassis has been reduced down to 7.9mm, making it the tiniest X-phone yet (and third thinnest in the POCO family, beaten only by a couple of F- phones).
The POCO X series is known for having a high refresh rate screen, a huge, fast-charging battery, and a good value chipset (leaving flagship performance to the F-phones). While the camera is rarely the emphasis, the new Pro model boasts a 108MP sensor. This time, there’s also a plain phone, but we’ll get to it later.
Features of the POCO X5 and X5 Pro
The Xiaomi POCO X5 retains the X4 Pro’s Snapdragon 695 CPU but has double the basic storage at 128GB. It, too, offers an 8/256GB variant and, like the new Pro, includes a microSD slot for up to 1TB extra storage (note this phone has a hybrid card slot). The vanilla variant comes pre-installed with the older MIUI 13 for POCO.
The display measures 6.67″ and has the same FHD+ resolution and refresh rate as the Pro. It is, however, an 8-bit panel with the older Gorilla Glass 3. However, peak brightness is significantly higher, reaching 1,200 nits.
The camera and battery are closer to those of a hypothetical vanilla POCO X4 (Xiaomi never released such a phone). It contains a 48MP primary camera (limited to 1080p video capture owing to the chipset), an 8MP ultra-wide (118°) and a 2MP macro, as well as a front-facing 13MP selfie camera.
The battery has the same capacity, 5,000mAh, but the charging speed has been reduced to 33W. You do, however, get a charger in the box, a 33W adaptor capable of charging from 0 to 100% in 68 minutes. While the wireless connectivity is slightly older than that of the Pro (Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1), the X5 retains a 3.5mm headphone port, an IR blaster, and (in some places) NFC.
The standard POCO X5 with 6/128GB RAM costs $250/€250, while the 8/256GB variant costs $300/€300. However, both choices include early bird rates that reduce the cost to $200/€200 and $250/€250, respectively.
Both the POCO X5 and X5 Pro bear almost the same qualities but the Pro model being the Pro has an edge over the vanilla version. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 778G chip and is supported by the Adreno 642L GPU. Another improvement is the display. It remains a 6.67 “AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400px, a refresh rate of 120Hz, and a touch sampling rate of 240Hz. However, it now displays 10-bit colour with 100% DCI-P3 colour space coverage. The display is also brighter, reaching a maximum brightness of 900 nits (up from 700 nits). A high-frequency 1,920Hz PWM system handles dimming. Gorilla Glass 5 still provides protection.
As far as the cameras are concerned, the camera system is the same. This implies that the main module has a 108MP 1/1.52 sensor “sensor, an 8MP super-wide-angle module (120°) and a 2MP macro camera, as well as a 16MP camera on the front.
The Poco X5 Pro costs $300/€300 for the 6/128GB variant and $350/€350 for the 8/256GB model. This one also has early bird pricing, so if you hurry, you can grab it for $250/€250 or $300/€300, respectively. Both the Poco X5 and X5 Pro will be released on February 7 (tomorrow), however, costs may vary depending on the area.
