Xiaomi Poco X7 review

For a few years now, the smartphone market has been stale. Where innovation has arrived, it has done so in little bursts – a slightly better camera, a marginally improved display – but it has sometimes also brought downgrades, as manufacturers penny pinch to boost profits.

To solve this, disruption is the antidote, a quality in the DNA of Poco, the Chinese brand behind one of the most famous “Flagship killers” ever, 2018’s Pocophone F1. With its new lineup consisting of the X7 and X7 Pro, we see a company operating in a different context, with even more intense competition, but with the same mission, to differentiate on price but not on quality.

These are phones built to impress, at least on paper, with a grab bag of features which bely their price points. For some, that alone will be enough. But as proven with the F1, a successful smartphone isn’t just a hodgepodge of off-the-shelf features rammed together, it’s an experience.

The Poco X7 has an arguably tougher job in this respect than its more premium sibling. Where the X7 Pro can afford to be a bit fancier, the plain X7 has to settle with being more plain by virtue of its existence in the lineup. But sometimes a focus on the basics can pay dividends.

So what’s the experience of using the Poco X7? Does it do enough to earn a place in your pocket? Read on to find out.

Design & Build

• 185g, 8.4mm thick
• All plastic build
• IP68 rated

At first glance, the Poco X7 is a little weird. From the rear, everything appears to be normal, there’s a large ‘POCO’ blazon, four ‘camera’ cutouts (hosting three actual cameras) and a glossy plastic finish. The front is where things start to become a little unusual for a budget phone, by which I mean you encounter the curved sides.

It was almost a decade ago that the first smartphone with curved sides, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, was released. Back then (2015), they felt cool and futuristic, now, not so much. In the intervening period, the faults of curved sides have been laid bare for all to see. Although they look pretty, they are an impediment to usability, and to durability. 

I was thankful that the X7 came with a factory-fitted screen protector, time spent in a pocket with keys meant small scratches to the curved edges, which could thankfully be removed with the protector.

Another anachronism is the use of glossy plastics in the design. The rail is intended to look like metal, and the back glass, in use it’s very apparent that both are plastic. Glossy might photograph better, but it also means that scratches and scuffs are crystal clear from every angle. If you like to keep your phone ‘naked’, the X7 will definitely look worse for wear after a few months, this is a device which needs a case.

Sean Cameron / Foundry

Thankfully there’s one included in the box, even if it is a flimsy TPU affair. From an overall build perspective, the X7 is on a far more solid footing. At 185g it is heavy, but no more so than other devices which are the same size, and at 8.4mm it’s thick enough to feel substantial without also coming across as pudgy.

Three colourways are offered: Black, Green and Silver, with our review unit coming in the latter. None of them will set the world alight and are a million miles from Motorola and its partnership with Pantone for the Edge series.

Another very retro inclusion is the series of four camera warts on the rear, of which there are four, with one housing the flash. They’re an unattractive inclusion, especially for what isn’t a camera-first device. At least the X7 is IP68 dust and water-resistant, far from a given in the budget segment, as is the inclusion of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for extra durability.

Taken as a whole, the X7 comes as something of a hodgepodge from a design perspective, a series of old parts and ideas that don’t quite gel. It’s a solidly built smartphone that feels competent, but which doesn’t set the pulse racing.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.67 inch, 1.5K AMOLED display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Stereo speakers

The screen is typically where smartphone marketers go to town, and with the X7, Poco has pulled out all the stops. With a 6.67-inch ‘CrystalRes 1.5K Flow AMOLED curved display’, 68 Billion colours (not a single colour less or more), a 2560Hz ‘Instant touch’ sampling rate and more, you would be mistaken for thinking this was a flagship panel.

It decidedly isn’t, however that isn’t to detract from its performance, just from some slightly over-eager marketing. 

The 1.5K resolution (around 25% more than a standard 1080p panel) offers crip content, whether text or images. The AMOLED tech means that colours pop and the technically infinite contrast leaves blacks nice and inky.

Sean Cameron / Foundry

Whether you can count all 68 Billion colours is up to you, however, the dynamic range of the panel is decent. Viewing angles on the curved edges can be an issue sometimes.

With a 120Hz refresh rate, mostly anything you can do on the X7 feels fast and smooth, though the 2560Hz sampling rate was impossible to measure. Needless to say, the phone registered my touch quickly, even if my shaky hobbit-like mitts couldn’t push it to theoretical extremes.

The X7 does come with HDR10 capability and is Widevine L1 certified, meaning it can play HDR content on Netflix and the like. Brightness is quoted as up to 1200 nits on high brightness mode, and it was certainly enough to beat the brittle winter sunshine in the UK. Minimum brightness wasn’t the best, however, blasting my face in the dark, if you like to read in bed this might be an issue.

There’s an under-display fingerprint sensor, and as you would expect in 2025, it worked flawlessly. Stereo speakers also make an entrance, with plenty of punch and volume even if they lack detail compared to even cheap Bluetooth options.

Specs & Performance

• Mediatek Dimensity 7300 Ultra processor
• 8/12GB of RAM
• 256/512GB storage

Typically, if there’s one area in which Poco phones never disappoints, it’s with the core specifications, and like the Poco X6, the X7 is no exception. 

To start, there’s a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultra under the hood, which is a modern 4nm octa-core chip operating at up to 2.5GHz, which is paired with a minimum of 8GB of RAM. Storage by default is 256GB, although for a little more you will see 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, plenty by anyone’s estimation. There’s no MicroSD card expansion, so make your choice wisely.

Sean Cameron / Foundry

As might be expected, there’s nothing in your day-to-day life which is likely to phase the X7, though that is functionally the case for nearly every smartphone in the budget price bracket. Nonetheless, the X7 flies through the interface and nearly every light task with ease.

The Dimensity 7300 Ultra powered through most games without issue, including PUBG at high settings. Over time it became a little toasty, though not overly so. Especially if you use a controller grip, the excess heat won’t prove to be an issue. Even during longer sessions, there was only minimal throttling evident, showcasing some mostly effective thermal management.

This isn’t a device meant to challenge the very best and most powerful in the market, but what it does do is offer commendable gaming performance at a compelling price point, which for many will be reason enough to pay attention.

Poco X7 benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp main camera with OIS
• 8Mp ultrawide
• 2Mp macro
• 20Mp selfie camera

It’s been said already that the X7 isn’t a camera-first device, however, that isn’t to say that it doesn’t have a camera system worthy of note.

Present and correct is a 50Mp IMX882 main sensor with optical image stabilisation and an f/1.5 aperture, an 8Mp f2.2 ultra-wide camera and a 2Mp macro cam on the rear, while the front sensor is 20Mp, with no further information offered.

The main sensor is shared with the X7’s more premium sibling, the X7 Pro, and is also used in the Poco F6. And for the most part, it does a reasonable job.

Sean Cameron / Foundry

Stills are captured at 12.5Mp and offer pleasant colours, provided you don’t activate the ‘AI camera’ mode, which hates every shade of green short of nuclear astroturf. Zooming in, there are issues with over-sharpening, which destroys the definition of foliage in particular, but for most urban settings you won’t have an issue. Dynamic range, in general, was good, with the X7 working well to correct overblown skies in particular.

Skin tones are pleasantly captured for the most part, but on the subject of portraits, you’ll immediately wish to disable the built-in ‘enhancements’ offered by the selfie camera. Crank those to eleven and you’ll look like an extra from ET.

Moving to low-light, the issues with detail don’t improve, however colour remains a highlight. The in-built night mode does a good job of improving brightness while maintaining saturation. This can’t be said of the ultra-wide camera, which isn’t at its best when the lights go down.

Performance from the ultra-wide on the whole echoes that of the main sensor, which is to say nice colour, and iffy detail, though those issues are both compounded here. It’s a nice-to-have, something usable in a pinch, but it isn’t one of the best options out there, even at the price point.

As might be expected, the macro cam is a real stinker. To get close enough to use it, the phone casts a large shadow over the subject, eliminating the point of macro photography. Tele-macros are an option which is growing in popularity, and for good reason.

Thankfully, photos from the front-facing camera are good for the most part, showcasing nice detail and colours, that is once the ‘enhancements’ have been deactivated.

Moving through Xiaomi’s various modes, the Portrait mode in particular did a commendable job with cutouts and altering lighting to make it more flattering, and as such was a welcome inclusion. Others, such as the ‘50Mp’ mode, offer nothing of value whatsoever.

Lastly, ‘Director’ mode was an interesting inclusion, which gives you an approximation of full manual video control, gaining access to colour temperature, shutter speed, ISO and the ability to manually focus. Coupled with the teleprompter feature, it makes for a theoretical video monster, but for one small issue – the front-facing sensor can only record video at up to 1080p/30fps, which just isn’t competitive.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5110mAh battery
• 45W fast charging

With a capacious 5110mAh battery and a modern processor, the Poco X7 has the necessary ingredients to achieve excellent battery life, and so coming into this review that’s what I was expecting to find.

Across the course of a relatively heavy day, with calls, email, social media, watching videos and an hour of GPS, I found by the end of the day I had around 31% remaining in the tank on average.

As can so often be said now, this is a smartphone which will last all day, and into a second for light users. 

When the time comes for charging, you can top up at up to 45W, which isn’t the fastest option on the market but does the job in a pinch. In 30 minutes, with the included charger, I was able to top up by 56%, which means you should see close to a full charge within an hour.

An interesting inclusion, which boosts the eco-credentials of the X7, is its stated ability to retain 80% battery health after 1,600 charge cycles, which is a significant number indeed. Though you might not be likely to keep it as long as that, it means you could theoretically get at least 4 years of use out of the X7, though there’s no stated framework for software support into the future.

As might be expected at the price point, there’s no wireless charging available.

Software & Apps

• Android 14
• Runs Xiaomi HyperOS
• Unknown support

Given that this is a device with Xiaomi parentage, it’s perhaps unsurprising that it comes running ‘HyperOS’, the Chinese firm’s particular flavour of Android.

This does its best to ape iOS for the most part. There are weird inclusions, such as a swipe from the top right down bringing a ‘Control Centre’ rather than the notification shade. Or there’s the inability to get rid of notifications with a left swipe.

Sean Cameron / Foundry

If you’ve come from an iPhone you’ll find a lot to like, but if you are used to a more pared-back version of Android, you might find it a lot. It’s a shame too to say there’s a lot of cruft installed, some of which present themselves as system apps and contain ads. This includes the built-in file manager, which looks normal until ads for ‘Evony’ appear. 

Beyond that, there’s a Xiaomi ‘App Mall’ which is a rival app store to the Play Store but far less accomplished. There’s also the Mi Browser, a Calendar app, a Gallery app, a Xiaomi store app and more, all options which can be forgotten but which for the most part cannot be uninstalled. In 2025, that’s unfortunate to see.

Google Gemini is included by default and cannot be uninstalled, continuing the theme. It leaves you with a device that feels as though it’s not really yours, over which you don’t have total control, and that’s unfortunate.

Taken as it is, HyperOS is smooth and won’t bother most people in general use, but the cracks are there and easy to see. Compared to the likes of Motorola’s, or even Samsung’s approach to software, it feels positively archaic. The lack of stated software support moving into the future is also something of a bugbear, as the competition has moved to a minimum of two years of feature updates, often even more.

Price & Availability

The Poco X7 is available for prices starting at £249 from the official store and retailers like Amazon. This will get you the 8/256GB version, while the 12/512GB model will set you back £299 putting it in the mid-range sector.

You can buy it from Amazon US if you don’t mind an import.

For the same price, you can get a Samsung Galaxy A25 5G, which offers many of the same specifications, but with a slightly improved camera system and a far longer offer of software support.

Or there’s the CMF Phone 1, which sports many of the same features and a superior software experience, for around £40 less. Lastly, there’s a left-field option, the TCL 50 Pro Nxtpaper, which has a 108Mp camera and a screen that is superior to all others in the price bracket when it comes to reading.

Check out all our best budget phones to see the top options right now.

Should you buy the Poco X7?

The budget range isn’t what it used to be, and that’s no bad thing. In recent years it has become jam-packed with quality offerings, which might make the proposition of choosing an individual phone more difficult, but which also conversely means most choices will be a safe one.

And that describes the Poco X7, as a safe choice. It has a somewhat old design that lacks pizzazz, there’s nothing in its spec sheet which really jumps out, it’s a series of sensible decisions coalesced into a middle of the road smartphone.

That isn’t to say that the experience of using it is bad, or even boring. It flies through most tasks, it has good battery life and a pleasant screen, and for many people that will be enough.

It has drawbacks too, as is to be expected, with a camera suite that leaves a little to be desired, and software that desperately needs a sense check applied to it. Not to mention the unknown length of support which is increasingly important to consumers.

It’s a good option in many ways but that probably isn’t enough for most people unless you happen to be seeing it on some attractive deal. Check out the competition from Samsung, CMF, Motorola and others first.

Specs

• Android 14
• 6.67-inch, 1220 x 2712, OLED, 120Hz
• Under-display fingerprint sensor
• MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultra
• 8/12GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB storage
• Cameras:
• 50Mp main camera
• 8Mp ultrawide
• 20Mp selfie camera
• 2MP macro sensor
• Up to 4K @ 30fps rear video
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 5110mAh battery
• 45W charging
• 160 x 74.42 x 78.4 mm
• IP68 certified
• 185.5g
• Colours: Black, Green, Silver