There were hardly any good phones available to recommend in ₹20-30,000 forcing me to request people to increase their budget. With Poco X6 series, I have now good smartphones to recommend within the range. I explain…
Almost every month, I would face this situation when any of my acquaintances would reach out to me asking for a recommendation in ₹20-30,000 range for a smartphone. The situation would become difficult if the budget was ₹20-25,000. In this range I had only 2 phones to recommend OnePlus Nord 3 CE Lite and iQOO Z7 Pro. The third I would have also considered was Motorola Edge 40 Neo. But I don’t have any first-hand experience of the phone, so could not recommend it. Now, firstly this means for me to recommend something, I had phones that were launched in April and August 2023 respectively. It makes no sense to suggest anyone a phone that is more than 6 months old unless it’s an iconic smartphone.
When I evaluate phones for recommendations, I try to think from the buyer’s point of view rather than including my biases like what else would one get in this budget. My attempt is always to maximise the value for the money that the person is willing to spend. I also keep in mind the socio-economic profile of the person and when I know that s/he can stretch a bit, I don’t hesitate in suggesting stepping-up to the next zone.
With Poco X6 series I have something new to recommend buying which is loaded with latest technology including the processor generation compared to the other options that could be considered. The other important factor is the storage needs of the users in this segment. Many of the other phones have 128 GB variant to offer within ₹25,000 range while the 256 GB variant crosses this very important threshold. In fact, this is the starting point of premium segment which then gets compared with several other options available right up to ₹50,000. Here again Poco X6 series offers the desired storage. In fact, Poco X6 12GB RAM / 512GB ROM is just under the threshold at ₹24,999. With offers one can even strike a better deal. Similarly, there are other parameters also that promise elevated performance with Poco X6 series phones of X6 and X6 Pro models which has better specifications to offer defining this experience. The out of box HyperOS makes the experience smoother. I could also see the battery performing better than expected.
Nowadays, people want to buy smartphones that are not only good in performance but also carry an elegant design. This is a natural consumer behaviour where the technical functions become very predictable, the consumers start looking at design and other such factors which add to their perceived value from the purchase. Both Poco X6 and X6 Pro wear a noticeable design. The X6 Pro vegan leather edition is youthfully premium that is a device to flaunt in evening parties and social gatherings.
The ₹20-30,000 range has been malnourished by the smartphone industry for quite some time. However, it is increasingly becoming an important segment for its very important converging nature. It is the range that will bring millions of existing smartphone users owning a basic or lower tier mid-range smartphone to the premium experiences and at the same time it is a preferred segment for many premium and luxe segment users to own a secondary smartphone. Some of them are even on iPhone and like to own a secondary Android smartphone in this range. Poco X6 series is a suitable candidate for standalone as well as complementing usage.
Yes, it may not be an all-weather camera performer. I tried the cameras of both (see samples below) the smartphones and did not see very impressive results with 5x zoom in natural light as well as during the nights. But that’s something I am sure will improve with subsequent updates. From hardware standpoint I see it already capable of doing better.
Poco X6 Pro
Poco X6
Summing up I see no reason of not recommending the Poco X6 series for both sets of buyers – who want to switch-up their experience as well as who want a secondary android phone matching the experience of their primary flagship smartphone.
For youth, the Poco X6 series goes well naturally. As we recently revealed in one of our researches, brand is very important decision criteria for GenZ and one of the critical attributes is the exclusivity that the brand offers to GenZ to relate with. Among the brands Poco leads in offering this exclusivity followed by iQoo and Nothing. So, they have even a stronger reason to buy Poco X6 series smartphones.
