Poco unveiled the F4 5G in India on June 24, and after adding banking offers (if you’re lucky with the specific credit card), the cost comes down to Rs 23,999 for the base model. While it looks like a great smartphone on paper, Poco F4 5G has a tough competitor in this range, and that’s the iQOO Neo 6. Does the former really offer better value than the latter? Let’s see.
Design & Display
Although we have not yet reviewed the Poco F4 5G, we have tested the iQOO Neo 6, and we can say that it has a great design with the good build quality. It also gives a really premium feel to the hand. From the looks of it, we feel like the iQOO Neo 6 has a better design overall.
As for the display, the Poco F4 5G has a 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision support, and 1,300 nits of brightness. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 5.
The Neo 6 5G has a 6.62-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a touch frequency of 360 Hz. Furthermore, there is a peak brightness of 1300 nits and a screen-to-body ratio of 91.4%. Both smartphones have a very similar display panel, and as it depends on how the color calibration is done on both smartphones, we can’t comment on how Poco F4 looks in real life, but Neo 6 was impressive during our use.
Power & Operating System
The iQOO Neo 6 and the Poco F4 5G have the same Snapdragon 870 processor with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. While they can handle heavy workloads without any problem, it all comes down to the software of your choice. Where you get a completely different UI approach with the Poco F4, the iQOO Neo 6 tries to keep it simple.
In our review of the iQOO Neo 6, we did say that FunTouch OS needs some polishing but is smooth and easy to use in everyday use. For Poco UI (based on MIUI), we cannot say the same, given the track record of software upgrades and the number of bugs that users claim to have with this OS. As a result, we think the iQOO Neo 6 is a better choice than the Poco F4 5G in terms of software and performance.
Battery and Cameras
We have a clear winner in this segment: the iQOO Neo 6. The Neo 6 packs a 4700mAh battery with support for 80W fast charging, which is said to charge the smartphone to 50 percent in 12 minutes. The Poco F4 5G has a 4,500mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging.
As for cameras, the Neo 6 has a 64MP main sensor with OIS support, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a 2MP macro sensor. In addition, it has a 16 MP camera on the front for selfies and video calls. The Poco F4 5G camera system includes a 64-megapixel main sensor with an f/1.79 aperture, an 8-megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture and ultra-wide angle lens, and a 2-megapixel camera with f/2.4 aperture for macro photography. The front camera has an aperture of f/2.4 and a resolution of 20 megapixels.
Again, on paper, they both seem to have an identical camera setup. Much depends on the software tuning and optimization, though, and since we haven’t checked out the Poco F4 5G, , we won’t decide which one has a better camera setup. What we can argue, however, is the fact that the iQOO Neo 6 has a good number of cameras that work well in most lighting conditions.
verdict
iQOO Neo 6 is generally a better choice in this segment at a slightly higher price tag of Rs 29,999 for the base variant.