POCO F7 Pro Review — yet another “flagship killer”?
POCO F7 Pro (12GB + 512GB)
The POCO F7 Pro feels premium in the hand, has a great screen and can still keep up with recent flagships in terms of gaming experience.
What's Good?
- Quite the premium look and feel
- Multi-day battery life with really, really fast charging
- Strong gaming performance
- Decent camera chops
- I really love the included case
What's Not?
- Indecisive design direction
- Hidden features and bloatware galore
I will start this review with a disclaimer: I am a huge POCO fan. I own the POCO F1 and also the POCO F2 Pro, and I will stand my ground by saying that they are the best “flagship killer” smartphones you could get in their respective eras. I have since converted to the fruity gang, so when I got the chance to review the POCO F7 Pro, all I wanted to find out was whether POCO is still competitive in the cutthroat flagship killer segment. Well, I am happy to share my findings.
POCO F7 Pro — What’s Good?
Quite the premium feel
Unlike many of the flagship killers in the market which just throw a flagship chipset in and call it a day, the POCO F7 Pro actually touts a rather upmarket build. Glass back with a (mostly) matte finish, aluminum frame and an overall no-frills design with flat sides and a thin profile makes for a rather nice device to hold. Heck, it’s even IP68-rated for that added peace of mind. The 6.67-inch screen with minimal bezels has been kept the same for quite a number of generations by now, and I also appreciate the bright and sharp 120Hz WQHD+ OLED display used. Overall, the POCO F7 Pro definitely looks — at least from the screen end — and feels the part of a flagship killer.
I really love the included case
Unlike most Chinese smartphones which come with a clear TPU case, POCO included a nice soft gray case that really helps with grip and also cleans up the aesthetics. More on that later. But yeah, I love the included case here, as it feels quite premium and isn’t going to turn yellow anytime soon like the aforementioned clear cases. Kudos to POCO for this.
Multi-day battery life with really, really fast charging
Despite the POCO F7 Pro’s 8.1mm profile, they somehow managed to cram in a massive 6000mAh dual-cell battery into it. In my use, I have never ended a day with less than 30% left in the tank, even when I was going around taking photos in Bali, logging on to Zenless Zone Zero for my dailies and doom scrolling in social media. There’s an included 90W charger that juices up the POCO F7 Pro really quickly, easily going from 15% to full in 30 minutes. Even for really heavy users, I don’t think the POCO F7 Pro will ever disappoint when it comes to its battery life and charging speeds.
Strong gaming performance
The POCO F7 Pro performs well when it comes to gaming, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 easily breezing through just about any game you throw at it. Zenless Zone Zero maintains a good 50~60FPS during the first 15 minutes of gameplay, but as temperatures rise you will see that it maintains around 40FPS with minor frame drops during more intensive scenes like when unleashing Miyabi’s full 6-stack Shimotsuki attack. However the frame drops are still few and far in between, which translates to a rather good gaming experience.
Decent camera chops
One of the first areas where flagship killers will usually skimp on is the camera, which luckily is not really the case here. It’s not the best, but photos generally turn out decent and ready to upload to Instagram. I wish there was a less aggressive contrast and sharpening pass, but I guess that’s the look POCO is going for. The ultra-wide camera usually ends up being a bit too soft, so I also found myself relying on it less and just shooting with the main camera. The camera UI on the POCO F7 Pro borrows the iPhone trick of having triple focal lengths for the 1x camera. Just an interesting feature, but I still found myself shooting at the default 24mm setting anyway.
POCO F7 Pro — What’s Not?
Indecisive design direction
The POCO F7 Pro’s rear glass panel appears to suffer from being uncertain about its identity. The top glossy third appears to have come from a mid-range gaming phone, while the lower two-thirds in matte is what I would expect a proper flagship to come with. All I am saying is that there are better ways to balance the “gaming” and “premium” aspects, and the POCO F7 Pro falls somewhat short of that for me. The clean matte bottom part doesn’t quite mesh well with the glossy surround of the camera. And while we’re at it, the off-center circular camera hump doesn’t look quite as good as it did when it was put in the center like the POCO F2 Pro.
Hidden features and bloatware galore
Did you know the POCO F7 Pro can measure your heart rate? Well, the feature is mysteriously hidden in the Settings app. The IR-based Mi Remote is also still present, despite the cleaner top edge, as the IR blaster has been moved to the camera hump, for whatever reason. For some other reason, swiping up to bring up the app drawer opens search by default, which is a very annoying feature. Luckily, that can be turned off. There’s also a literal truckload of bloatware like Wallpaper Carousel, GetApps and a slew of preinstalled games and apps which I didn’t ask for now on my phone. Heck, before I updated it, Game Turbo plays an ad before I could toggle the settings. I complained about the bloatware issue during my review of the Xiaomi 13T Pro, and I am quite sad that I am still seeing it here on the POCO F7 Pro.
POCO F7 Pro Specifications
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (SM8650) 4nm (TSMC N4P) CPU 1x Kryo (ARM Cortex X4-based) Prime core @ 3.3GHz 3x Kryo (ARM Cortex A720-based) Performance cores @ 3.2GHz 2x Kryo (ARM Cortex A720-based) Performance cores @ 3.0GHz 2x Kryo (ARM Cortex A520-based) Efficiency cores @ 2.3GHz GPU Adreno 730 @ 903MHz |
| Memory / Storage | 12GB LPDDR5X / 512GB UFS 4.1 |
| Display | 6.67-inch WQHD+ (3200×1440) 120Hz Flow AMOLED DotDisplay (CSOT M9) HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 12-bit color depth, DCI-P3 gamut 1800 nits max, 3200 nits peak brightness Corning Gorilla Glass 7i |
| Audio | Dual-speaker Hi-res & Hi-res Audio Wireless Dolby Atmos support 3-mic array |
| Cameras | Main camera (24mm eqv.) 50MP f/1.6, 1/1.55″ Light Fusion 800 (OV50E) sensor, 2µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel, 6P lens, OIS Ultra-wide (15mm eqv.) 8MP f/2.2, FF Selfie camera (26mm eqv.) 20MP f/2.2, FF Auto HDR, Auto Night, Motion capture, up to 8K24 video, up to 1080p960 / 720p1920 slow-mo, ShootSteady |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, WiFi 7 Bluetooth 5.4 5G NSA + SA Dual SIM NFC IR Blaster USB-C (USB 2.0, 480Mbps) |
| Software | Xiaomi HyperOS 2.0, Android 15 |
| Battery | 6000mAh eqv. (dual-battery) 90W HyperCharge (proprietary) Xiaomi Surge Battery Management System |
| Dimensions | 160.26 x 74.95 x 8.12 mm |
| Weight | 206g |
| Ingress Protection | IP68 Max 2.5m for 30 minutes |
POCO F7 Pro — should you buy this?
The POCO F7 Pro’s trump card is probably going to be its chipset. For RM2,499 — or RM2,299, if you can get by with 256GB of storage — I would say it’s a decent option, provided you don’t really mind the bloatware and rather weak ultra-wide camera of the POCO F7 Pro. It feels premium in the hand, has a great screen and can still keep up with recent flagships in terms of gaming experience. In that sense, it’s a flagship killer.
Personally, however, I would go for the Xiaomi 14T Pro if only for its camera, especially as prices have now dropped enough to give you Leica goodness for around the same moolah. But that’s not to say the Xiaomi 14T Pro’s performance is bad, it’s just that when it comes to gaming, the Adreno GPUs in the Snapdragon chips still reign supreme. What’s your priority? Gaming or photography? Well, good thing is that there are plenty of options to choose from even from Xiaomi’s own stable.
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If you are interested in the POCO F7 Pro or Xiaomi 14T Pro, we would really appreciate if you purchase it via the links below. The affiliate links won’t cost you any extra, but it will be a great help to keep our lights on here at HelloExpress.
- POCO F7 Pro (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.KUYqU
- POCO F7 Pro (Shopee): https://s.shopee.com.my/4L6L9oria8
- Xiaomi 14T Pro (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.OBoq4
- Xiaomi 14T Pro (Shopee): https://s.shopee.com.my/9f30NzcLd0
