What else is a flagship smartphone? The Mi 10 from parent brand Xiaomi. Yes, Poco is a separate entity now but given that they are rebranding the Redmi K30 Pro and still use MIUI, they are affiliated to Xiaomi in one way or the other, so it makes sense to compare the Poco F2 Pro with the Mi 10 which was recently launched in India. While rumors suggest that the Poco F2 Pro will make its way to India as the Redmi K30 Pro itself, they are basically the same phone so let’s compare the Poco F2 Pro with the Mi 10 and see what you are paying that extra premium for with the Mi 10.
Build and Design
The Poco F2 Pro (thankfully) gets rid of the plastic back from the Poco F1 and has gone completely glass, just like any other smartphone in 2020. The design, also like most smartphones in 2020 is either matte-finish or glossy with a bunch of attractive colors. The quad-camera module is center aligned.
The Mi 10 is also built in a similar fashion but looks slightly more premium due to the 3D curved back on all four sides. The camera array sits on the left side of the back. Looks are mostly subjective, and you may prefer the circular camera arrangement on the Poco F2 Pro or the vertical one on the Mi 10 depending on what you prefer.
Display
The first major difference between the Poco F2 Pro and the Mi 10 is in terms of the display panels that they use. While both phones have AMOLED displays, the Poco F2 Pro has a standard flat panel with a 60Hz refresh rate. The Mi 10, on the other hand, has a 3D curved display that gives it a more premium look as well as in-hand feel. The refresh rate is also 90Hz for a smoother experience.
The Mi 10 also gets a punch-hole cutout on the display whereas the Poco F2 Pro has a full-view display since the front-facing shooter resides in a pop-up mechanism. It’s a toss-up between a higher refresh rate and curved edges, but with a hole-punch, or a seamless display experience but with flat edges and a conventional 60Hz refresh rate. Both phones have in-display fingerprint scanners.
Performance
The Poco F2 Pro and the Mi 10 run on the same mobile platform – Snapdragon 865 and thus will perform similarly no matter what you do on your smartphone. Both phones also come with 5G support and given that both of them run on a clean version of MIUI, the software experience should also be more or less similar. Poco has claimed that they’re using a superior cooling process but that would not affect the performance drastically. However, what may affect the performance and tilt it slightly in favor of the Poco F2 Pro is the type of storage. While both phones have LPDDR5 RAM, the MI 10 uses USF 3.0 storage whereas the Poco F2 Pro uses UFS 3.1 which is slightly faster.
Cameras
This is where the next major difference between the Poco F2 Pro and the Mi 10 is evident. The Poco F2 Pro uses a 64MP primary camera against the mighty 108MP sensor on the Mi 10. While the IMX 686 on the Poco F2 Pro is no slouch, the 108MP sensor on the Mi 10 is bound to produce shots with more details and overall provide better image quality. Both phones have an ultra-wide, a macro, and a depth sensor as the other supporting cameras. Both the Poco F2 Pro and the Mi 10 have a 20MP shooter on the front.
Battery and Charging
Again, both the Poco F2 Pro and the Mi 10 have similar capacities of battery with the Poco F2 Pro getting 4700mAh while the Mi 10 has a 4780mAh cell. Both phones also support fast charging at 30W, but the difference is that the Mi 10 also has support for fast wireless charging whereas the Poco F2 Pro does not have any sort of wireless charging capabilities.
Poco F2 Pro vs Mi 10: Verdict
The Poco F2 Pro has been launched for a price of 499 Euros while the Mi 10 retails for 879 Euros or Rs. 49,999 in India. While we are not sure of the pricing in India, the Poco F2 Pro, or the Redmi K30 Pro, whichever lands in the country is expected to be priced around the Rs. 35,000 mark. For the ~Rs. 15,000 that you’ll be saving with the Poco F2 Pro, you are losing out on the 108MP camera, curved display, higher refresh rate, and wireless charging which may not seem like a lot based on your usage. Undeniably, the Poco F2 Pro provides great value at its price point.
