Xiaomi Poco M4 5G review

Introduction

Xiaomi’s budget Poco line hardly needs an introduction. Many models in the family have been enjoying enormous popularity due to their great value proposition. The Poco M line is now up to its fourth generation, and today we have the vanilla Poco M4 5G for review. Since Poco’s naming scheme is kind of a mess right now, a bit of clarification is in order.

The Poco M4 5G appears to be positioned as the cheapest offer in the current Poco M4 lineup. It is arguably more related to the Poco M4 Pro 5G than the Poco M4 Pro, by rocking a similar size 6.58-inch 90Hz LCD display as that model. In most other aspects, the Poco M4 5G is a downgrade compared to the M4 Pro 5G, though.

One more point of clarification which is really crucial – the phone we have for review today is the global version of the Poco M4 5G. Compared to the older Indian variant, it has a lesser camera setup with a 13MP main camera, instead of 50MP and a 5MP selfie, instead of 8MP.

Xiaomi Poco M4 5G specs at a glance:

• Body: 164.0×76.1×8.9mm, 200g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), plastic frame, plastic back; Splash resistant.
• Display: 6.58″ IPS LCD, 90Hz, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 400ppi.
• Chipset: MediaTek MT6833 Dimensity 700 (7 nm): Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
• Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
• OS/Software: Android 12, MIUI 13.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 13 MP, PDAF; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 1.0µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 18W.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; Infrared port; 3.5mm jack.

Both of the M4 5G variants are rocking a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset instead of the Dimensity 810 inside the Poco M4 Pro 5G. It only has a single speaker instead of a stereo setup, only supports 18W charging instead of 33W, has lower resolution main and selfie cameras and is just IP52 rated instead of IP53. It also omits the ultrawide snapper. Unquestionably, the M4 5G is noticeably downgraded.

These downgrades should naturally be reflected in the price delta between the two, right? Well, kind of. On the Indian market, a vanilla Poco M4 5G starts at around INR 13,000 for a 64GB, 4GB unit at the time of writing, and a Poco M4 Pro 5G goes for about INR 13,500. That’s hardly a substantial difference, and pricing between the two is even closer on Amazon UK and pricing for the further downgraded European version isn’t much different. That puts the Poco M4 5G in a pretty tight spot right from the get-go. Still, prices change, and promos are a thing, so without further ado, let’s see if the Poco M4 5G is a decent smartphone worthy of your attention, to begin with.

Unboxing

As usual, let’s start with the box and retail package. The Poco M4 5G ships in a two-piece bright yellow, thick cardboard box. Perfect for protecting the phone during shipping and also quite attention-grabbing.

In typical Poco fashion, the accessory package is relatively rich. The basics are well covered with a 22.5W Xiaomi charger. It is rated for outputs of 5V@3A, 9V@2.23A, 12V@1.67A and 10V@2.25A. It is a bit overspecked for the 18W charging cap of the Poco M4 5G itself. Alongside it, you get a USB Type-A to Type-C cable. Nothing fancy, just a short white cable. As is usually the case with Poco, a thick transparent TPU case is in the box, and the phone also ships with a pre-applied thin screen protector. Basically, everything you need to start using it confidently straight away.