Thomas Dietrich
Xiaomi introduced the Poco X5 and Poco X5 Pro with fast-refreshing displays, large, fast-charging batteries, and mid-range chipsets. The new Pro model also shines with a 108 megapixel main camera.
Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro
The Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro is the direct successor to last year’s Poco X4 Pro 5G. The body is the thinnest of a Poco X-series phone to date at 7.9mm and the third thinnest in the entire Poco family. The main upgrade of this generation is the Snapdragon 778G chipset. The 6nm chip from TSMC has a flagship grade Adreno 642L GPU. The base configuration comes with 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB of UFS 2.2 storage. But there is also an 8/256 GB option. The operating system used is Android 12 with MIUI 14 for Poco.
The display is another upgrade. It’s still a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixels, a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a touch sampling rate of 240 Hz. However, it now renders 10-bit colors with 100% coverage of the DCI -P3 color space. The display is also brighter at 900 nits (instead of 700) and features high-frequency PWM dimming at 1,920 Hz. Gorilla Glass 5 continues to offer protection.
The camera system includes a 108-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.52-inch sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra wide with 120 degrees fov and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Upfront, a 16-megapixel camera snaps selfies. Thanks to the faster chipset, you can shoot videos with 4K instead of 1080p in the new model. The camera also responds 69% faster for photos and 38% faster in night mode.
The new Snapdragon 778G processor also enables faster local connectivity with Wi-Fi 6 (ax) and Bluetooth 5.2. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack, an IR emitter and NFC. The Poco X5 Pro also has a USB-C port that charges the 5,000mAh battery at 67W with the included charger. The Poco X5 Pro is available in blue, black and the typical Poco yellow.
Xiaomi Poco X5
The regular Xiaomi Poco X5 retains the X4 Pro’s Snapdragon 695 chipset but, like the X5 Pro, has 128GB of base storage. An 8/256 GB version is also available, but there is also a hybrid card slot for up to 1 TB of additional storage via microSD. In addition to Android 12, the older MIUI 13 is used as the operating system. The display is 6.67 inches and has the same FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate as the Pro. However, it is an 8-bit panel with the older Gorilla Glass 3. The peak brightness is even higher though, peaking at 1,200 nits.
The main camera has a resolution of 48 megapixels and only shoots 1080p videos due to the chipset. There is an 8-megapixel ultra wide camera with a 118-degree fov and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The selfie camera has 13 megapixels. The battery has the same capacity of 5,000 mAh, but the charging speed has dropped to 33 watts. At least the right charger is part of the scope of delivery and fully charges the X5 in 68 minutes. Connections are limited to Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack, IR emitter and NFC.
Prices
The Xiaomi Poco X5 with 6/128GB storage starts at $250/€250, while the 8/256GB model costs $300/€300. However, there are early bird deals for both options, bringing prices down to $200/€200 and $250/€250 respectively. The Poco X5 Pro starts at $300/€300 for the base 6/128GB model and goes up to $350/€350 for the 8/256GB model. Quick deals are at $250/€250 or $300/€300. Both the X5 and X5 Pro will be available from February 7th.
