Poco M3 Pro 5G: Probably the best budget 5G smartphone

The Poco M3 is undoubtedly one of the best sub-RM500 smartphones at the moment and now Xiaomi has introduced an updated version that’s called the Poco M3 Pro 5G. Like the name suggests, the new phone supports faster 5G connectivity and it also gets a couple of notable upgrades without breaking the bank.

Price and availability

At the moment, the Poco M3 Pro 5G appears to be available in Europe starting from the 20th of May. Xiaomi is offering EUR 20 off as an early bird promo between the 20th to 22nd May and below is the official pricing:

• 4GB RAM + 64GB storage – EUR 179 EUR 159 (about RM801)
• 6GB RAM + 128GB storage – EUR 199 EUR 179 (about RM902)

The device comes in 3 colours – Poco Yellow, Power Black and Cool Blue.

The M3 Pro 5G will go on sale first via Poco, AliExpress, Amazon and Goboo. We expect the Poco M3 Pro 5G to be released in more markets including Malaysia and Lazada has been listed under its list of platforms that are coming soon.

Hardware Specs

The Poco M3 Pro 5G features a 6.5″ Full HD+ display but it now gets a more fluid 90Hz refresh rate. Instead of a Snapdragon 662 processor, the Pro 5G model is running on a 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 chip that can be configured with up to 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage.

According to Xiaomi, the new chip boasts an Antutu score of 329,072, which is higher than a Snapdragon 662 or a mid-tier Snapdragon 720G. On paper, the new device should provide a better gaming performance compared to the standard M3.

In terms of connectivity, it supports dual-SIM with dual 5G standby as well as Bluetooth 5.1 and 5GHz WiFi. There’s also an Infrared Blaster and NFC support built-in.

Design-wise, it looks more upmarket with a 3D curved design back that has a glossy finish. Instead of keeping the large horizontal camera bump like the standard M3, the Pro 5G model gets a more subtle camera bump which looks somewhat inspired by the Samsung Galaxy S21 series.

In the camera department, it appears to be unchanged from the standard M3 model. It still retains a triple-camera setup with a 48MP main camera and two 2MP shooters for depth and macro. The device still gets an 8MP selfie-camera that sits in a tiny punch-hole on the screen.

One of the biggest downgrades is the battery. Instead of a 6,000mAh unit that’s found on the Poco M3, the M3 Pro 5G gets a smaller 5,000mAh capacity. It also supports 18W fast charging via USB-C but Xiaomi has included a 22.5W fast charger in the box.

The device still comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Interestingly, it appears that the device only offers a mono speaker instead of a stereo setup that’s available on the M3. Out of the box, it runs on Android 11 with MIUI 12 skin on top.

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