The Poco M3 is the company’s latest affordable budget smartphone in the M series. It made its global debut on November 24 and was recently confirmed to launch in India on February 2.
The Poco M3 is the third M series device from the brand after the Poco M2 and Poco M2 Pro affordable devices. The Poco M3 will be the successor to the Poco M2 which has sold over 1 million units since it was launched in 2020 which is less than four months to clock 1 million number.
As always, the Poco M3 teaser is already live on Flipkart and the brand is creating a buzz on Twitter and other social media platforms. With the Global launch, an Indian launch having some time in between, the specifications of the Poco M3 for the Indian market might also be slightly different, similar to what it did for the Poco X3. But, we are not expecting anything drastic.
Poco M3 price in India and launch date
The Poco M3 will launch in India on February 2 at 12 noon. The launch event will be streamed on Flipkart app and other social media platforms. This will also be Poco’s first launch for 2021 in India.
As for the pricing, the Poco M3 starts at $149 for the 4GB + 64GB variant and goes up to $169 for the 4GB + 128GB model. Directly converted, that is equivalent to Rs 11,000 and Rs 12,500 respectively. The company is usually more aggressive in India though.
Here is what the Poco M3 brings to the table:
Poco M3: Design
First things one will notice with a smartphone is the design. To the rear, you get a unique dual-tone finish with a rectangular block which sports the triple camera module and Poco branding. This design in particular looks similar to the recently announced OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 edition.
The Poco M3 features a smooth curved back with a textured finish. This is also an anti-fingerprint design and will offer better in-hand feel and grip. The device is available in three colour options – Poco Yellow, Cool Blue, and Power Black. All three colours are confirmed to launch in India as well.
Poco M3: Display
Next up, the display on the Poco M3 which hasn’t changed much from the forerunner. You get the same 6.53-inch Full HD+ dot drop display or dew-drop display. It has a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels with 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 90.34% screen-to-body ratio, 70% NTSC colour gamut. A layer of Gorilla Glass 5 sits on top of the display.
Furthermore, it is also TÜV Rheinland certified for low-light consumption and Widevine L1 certified to stream HD content on apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The display supports colour temperature adjustment, standard mode, reading mode 2.0, sunlight mode.
Poco M3: Performance
Under the hood, the Poco M3 is powered by a Qualcomm chipset. The device has the Snapdragon 662 SoC in the heart. It is an octa-core chipset built on an 11nm fabrication process which runs at a max frequency of 2.05GHz and has a third-gen AI engine. Gaming and graphics performance will be taken care of by Adreno 610 GPU.
The Poco M3 comes in two configurations for the global market. 4GB LPDDR4X RAM paired with 64GB UFS 2.1 storage and 4GB + 128GB USF 2.2. There is also a dedicated microSD card slot which takes up to 512GB. The Poco M2 in India comes with 6GB RAM and 64 or 128GB storage option. If Poco M3 is launched in India, we can expect some slight changes especially in the RAM department as we’ve also seen similar changes in the past.
Poco M3: Camera
Coming to the cameras, the Poco M3 gets a big improvement in terms of megapixels. It flaunts a triple rear camera stack. There is a 48MP primary sensor with a 1/2″ sensor size, f/1.79 aperture, autofocus, etc. This is followed by a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor both with f/2.2 aperture. There is a dual-LED flash for the low-light scenario.
The camera features include document mode, night mode, AI scene detection, AI beautify, portrait mode, movie frame, Panorama, Raw mode. For videos, you can shoot up to Full HD and slow-mo up to 120fps.
Selfies are handled by an 8MP shooter which is located inside the dew-drop notch. It has an f/2,05 aperture. Some of the features include movie frame, AI beautify, filters, palm shutter, AI portrait mode, short video mode, and panorama selfie.
Poco M3: Battery
The Poco M3 packs in the biggest battery on a Poco phone yet with a 6000mAh unit. For context, the Poco M2 sports a 5000mAh battery. While the Poco M2 supports 10W fast charging, the Poco M3 goes further ahead and will offer you 18W fast charging. Interestingly, the company is bundling a 22.5W charger in the box. The phone also supports USB-C reverse charging as well
Poco says the device can last up to 40 hours for continuous calling or up to 196 hours of music listening or 17 hours of video. The company also claims that the Poco M3’s battery can last up to 2.5 years without major degradation which is about 1000 charge cycles. This is said to last 25% longer than other smartphones.
Everything else
Apart from the aforementioned specs, the Poco M3 runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 10 with no ads or bloatware. For security, the handset sports a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and also AI face unlock support. For audio, the device packs in dual speakers with Hi-Res audio certification.
Furthermore, the Poco M3 packs in IR blaster, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio, dedicated microSD card slot, dual-band Wi-Fi support, dual SIM, and Bluetooth 5.0. For navigation, there is GPS/ A-GPS / GLONASS / Beidou / Galileo and lastly, sensors onboard included Proximity, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Electronic compass, and Vibration motor.
Poco M3 specification
| Poco M3 | Poco M2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 6.53″ FHD+ | 6.53″ FHD+ |
| Processor | Snapdragon 662 | MediaTek Helio G80 |
| RAM | 4GB | 6GB |
| Storage | 64/128GB | 64/128GB |
| Rear camera | 48+2+2MP | 13+8+5+2MP |
| Front camera | 8MP | 8MP |
| Battery | 6000mAh | 5000mAh |
| Charging | 18W | 10W |
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