The Poco M3 is official as of Tuesday with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 chip, triple camera set up, and 6,000mAh battery among its highlight features. Continuing the 2020 safety measures, Poco hosted an online launch event to showcase its new product, which will be marketed as an entry-level smartphone that can serve as an excellent multimedia device.
Model options include 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage and 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The models will sell for $149 and $169 respectively but will sell at an early bird price of $129 and $149 starting November 27.
The Poco M3 features a 6.53-inch FHD+ display with a number of trimmings, including a 1500:1 contrast ratio, 400 nits brightness, color temperature adjustment, sunlight mode, standard mode, reading mode 2.0, and a Gorilla Glass 3 protective covering.
Its hardware includes LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.1 and 2.2 storage with 18W fast charge and reversed wired charging for its USB-C power source. The device also comes with a 22.5W charger in-box.
The triple camera set up includes a 48-megapixel main else with a 1/2-inch sensor and f/1.79 aperture, a 2-megapixel macro lens with f/2.4 aperture, and a 2-megapixel depth lens, also with f/2.4 aperture. Its front-facing camera is an 8-megapixel lens with f/2.05 aperture and night mode, movie frame, time-lapse, and 120fps slow-motion video features.
Design-wise the Poco M3 features an anti-fingerprint textured back panel and will be available in Cool Blue, POCO Yellow, Power Black color options. Its dimensions are 162.3mm x 77.3mm x 9.6mm and weight 198g.
Other features include Android 10 with an MIUI 12 overlay, dual hi-res audio certified speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, dual SIM, expandable storage up to 512GB, Bluetooth 5.0, IR Blaster, FM radio (with headphones), side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and AI Face Unlock.
Since bands are extremely important on entry-level devices, the Poco M3 includes, 2G, 3G, 4G TDD-LTE, and 4G FDD-LTE, as well as 2.4GHz/5GHz WIFI.
With the launch of the M3, Poco has reiterated its independence from its former parent company, Xiaomi, after having split from the company in January. The brand began as a subsidy in 2018, introducing the Poco F1. Since then Poco has gone on to ship over 6 million device units globally, with availability in over 35 countries, according to Canalys. In addition to the new M-series as its entry-level devices, Poco’s M series serves as its mid-range line and its F series as its flagship devices.