Poco M3: What To Know About Feature-Packed Budget Smartphone

Xiaomi sub-brand Poco has announced the new Poco M3 – a low-budget smartphone that delivers “more than you expect.”

This is Poco’s latest and cheapest entry and comes alongside its decision to separate itself from Xiaomi. The company is now an independent maker of cheap but feature-packed smartphones, and the new Poco M3 is proof of what it wants to offer consumers all over the world: affordable but reliable devices.

The new device, per Android Authority, was unveiled via a recent livestreamed event. Poco M3 has a low but appealing $149 starting price but offers pretty decent specs that make it an enticing choice against other smartphones in the budget category.

Here’s a quick look at the Poco M3’s specs and features.

Powerful innards

The Poco M3 is powered by a decent Snapdragon 665 chip, which is backed by 4GB of RAM. This is good for the price.

The device comes with 64GB UFS 2.1 storage for the base model. Adding $20 to the purchase price, meaning a total of $169, bumps internal storage up to 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. This is expandable up to 512GB via microSD card.

Display

The handset has a 6.53-inch Dot Drop display that has 2340 x 1080 (FHD+) pixel resolution, 395 pixels per inch and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The display also offers support for some features, such as what Poco calls “Sunlight mode,” Reading mode and more.

Cameras

The Poco M3 has a formidable camera setup considering its price. At the back lies a three-camera setup comprised of a 48MP main sensor, a 2MP Macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots. The rear camera offers a slew of modes, including Night mode, Document mode, Panorama and Raw mode.

In front, nestled inside the Dot Drop notch on top of the screen, is an 8MP selfie camera that offers a variety of features as well.

Battery

The Poco M3 is no loser when it comes to battery life. It has a huge 6,000 mAh battery that can be charged via 18W fast-charging. Poco said the battery can last up to 583 hours on standby. When in use, it can offer up to 40 hours of calls, up to 196 hours of non-stop music or up to 17 hours of video playback – on a single charge.

The company also boasted about the huge battery’s “high charge cycle” feature. This means the battery can last for up to 1,000 charge cycles. It also means the Poco M3’s battery can last for more than 2.5 years without degrading significantly.

Other details

The new handset also has some other features, like a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for authentication, dual speakers with high-resolution audio and a 3.5mm headphone jack for those who prefer wired audio connections. It also comes in yellow, blue and black.

Poco will be selling the new Poco M3 in Europe starting on Black Friday. While details about a U.S. release remains unknown at the moment, the pricing details, which is in dollars, seems to hint that it might make its way to American shores.