Realme 6 Pro vs POCO X2: Can the new entrant from Realme take on the well established offering from POCO?

Can the Realme 6 Pro beat the POCO X2, let’s find out.

When it comes to smartphones under Rs.20000, then Realme and Xiaomi are the ones competing with each other by launching each of their smartphones to gain the top spot. This year Realme came up with the 6 series which includes the Realme 6 and the 6 Pro. Both these smartphones have a massive screen, support for higher refresh rates, and faster charging. These smartphones bring a major upgrade over their predecessors.

On the other hand, Xiaomi’s sub-brand POCO which is now an independent brand and had launched the POCO X2 last year December which also comes with a massive display, 120Hz refresh rate display, and a great set of cameras.

The closest competitor to the POCO X2 is the Realme 6 Pro.

Both have very good specifications and are right in the market. Here we would see whether the POCO brand continues to live its reputation or the Realme 6 Pro becomes the best mid-ranger between the two?

Lets head for the full comparison.

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Design:

In terms of design, both the smartphones have a glass sandwich design with the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

On the front, both the smartphones have an almost bezel-less display with dual punch-hole cameras, the only difference is the positioning where the cameras are placed on the right of the display of the POCO X2 and left for the Realme 6 Pro.

On the sides, both have the volume controls and power button with a SIM card slot. But here the Realme 6 Pro gets a dedicated SD card slot and the POCO X2 has a hybrid slot.

Both have a power button that incorporates a fingerprint scanner (side-mounted). The fingerprint scanner was slightly faster on the POCO X2 compared to the Realme 6 Pro.

At the back, both have different designs where the POCO X2 has gone for a circular design around the cameras which are placed in the middle whereas, like all other Realme smartphones, the Realme 6 Pro‘s cameras lie to the left. The back of the Realme 6 Pro has a lightning design that shines when viewed from different angles.

Both have P2i nano-coating at the back which means both are splash resistant.

Both have attractive colors with a wider variety and almost identical when it comes to weight.

The POCO X2 is slightly heavier at 208 grams compared to 202 grams on the Realme 6 Pro.

Since both have glass backs, they do catch up with a lot of fingerprints and both provide a protective case inside the box.

In terms of build and design both are equally good and whether you like the circular design of the POCO X2 or the Lightning design of the Realme 6 Pro is a personal preference.

Check here: Realme 6 Pro Review: Is this the best mid-ranger from Realme that can make a bold move in the market.

Also check: POCO X2 Review: Should you consider this new mid-ranger?

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Display:

Here the POCO X2 sports a slightly larger display at 6.67 inches compared to the 6.6 inches on the Realme 6 Pro. Both have an IPS LCD full HD+ panel with a screen to body ratio of 20:9.

The displays have high refresh rates where the Realme 6 Pro has the 90Hz refresh, the POCO X2 has a slightly higher 120Hz refresh rate.

So playing games and scrolling through applications (multitasking) all of these feel smoother to use. With the POCO X2 having the higher refresh rate doesn’t feel different from the 90Hz on the Realme 6 Pro as there is not any difference in the display.

Both the smartphones support Widevine L1 so streaming third party content from Amazon, Netflix, etc will not be an issue.

The POCO X2 goes one up against the Realme 6 Pro with the support for HDR content.

Coming to visibility, the POCO X2 has a slightly better display panel than the Realme 6 Pro as colors are slightly punchier on the POCO X2 and it has slightly better visibility under direct sunlight.

Considering the slightly higher refresh rate and a brighter panel, the POCO X2 holds a slight edge over the Realme 6 Pro in terms of display.

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Performance:

The Realme 6 Pro packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset which is a new chipset and is almost similar to the Snapdragon 730G on the POCO X2. Both have 2+6 cores configuration where the Snapdragon 720G and Snapdragon 730G have 2×2.3 vs 2.2 GHz Gold cores for higher performance based on Cortex A76 architecture and another 6×1.78 GHz Silver cores are the same on both for power efficiency.

Both the chipsets are coupled with an Adreno 618 GPU and are built on an energy-efficient 8nm process. However, there lie some differences between both the chipsets.
The Snapdragon 720G has the Kryo 465 cores whereas the Snapdragon 730G has slightly powerful Kryo 470 cores and the GPU on the Snapdragon 730G is slightly overclocked so there isn’t much difference in performance but the Snapdragon 730G edges slightly here.

The Snapdragon 720G brings India’s satellite navigation called NavIC, newer Bluetooth 5.1, and the newer Hexagon 692 DSP. But it lacks the support for Quad HD+ display which the Snapdragon 730G supports.

Coming to real-world usage, whether it is the app opening and closing, game loading, or handling high-end games, both the smartphones are handle everything equally well. Now in terms of gaming, we played all high-end games on both these smartphones like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty, etc. and both managed to play without breaking a sweat. Sure the higher refresh rates do help achieve smooth gameplay.

Most of the games are not there with support for the 90/120 Hz refresh rate but still, the smartphones provide good gameplay. However with high-end games like PUBG, Call of Duty when played at highest graphics, there is a little bit of frame drop noticed.

While playing games heavily for 3-4 hours continuously, the back of both smartphones gets warmer but here POCO X2 comes with a liquid cooling system that maintains the heat while gaming.

In benchmarks like Geekbench 5.1, the POCO X2 scored 541 in single-core and 1665 in multi-score, and similarly, the Realme 6 Pro scored 549 in single-core and 1679 in multi-core. The scores are almost close to each other.

Overall both have very good performance but here with the slightly higher refresh rate and the slightly powerful Snapdragon 730G, the POCO X2 is the one with better performance.

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Software:

Both the smartphones run Android 10 out of the box with their respective custom skins. The Realme 6 Pro runs RealmeUI which is much cleaner and slightly better iteration of previous ColorOS skin.

The POCO X2 runs MIUI 11 which is Xiaomi‘s custom skin. Since the POCO X2 comes with a POCO launcher, it is a cleaner interface but has some bloatware that can be uninstalled.

On the other hand, RealmeUI is much cleaner as it does not have so much bloatware and provides experience close to Stock Android. Both have a system-wide dark mode, customizations to icons, etc.

Both the MIUI and RealmeUI feels smooth and easy to use.

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Camera:

Both the POCO X2 and Realme 6 Pro sport six cameras in total i.e. four cameras at the rear and two in the front. Both have the 64MP main camera sensor with ultrawide and macro cameras. The Realme 6 Pro instead of the depth camera in POCO X2, comes with a telephoto camera.

The camera modes on both smartphones are easy to use and bring some really good features.

The Realme 6 Pro comes with:

64MP f/1.8 Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 main camera
8MP f/2.3 ultrawide camera with 119-degree field of view
12MP f/2.5 telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and 20x hybrid zoom
2MP f/2.4 macro camera for macro shots

On the other hand, the POCO X2 has:

64MP f/1.9 Sony IMX686 main camera
8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with 119-degree field of view
2MP f/2.4 macro camera for macro shots
2MP f/2.4 depth camera for portraits.

Coming to the main camera which has the 64MP sensor, both these smartphones take very good shots with a good amount of detail. Both of them have punchier colors and the contrast works well. But when zooming into the image, the POCO X2 brings much better details with but the Realme 6 Pro has a wider dynamic range, The Sony sensor takes slightly better images during the day. With HDR turned on, the POCO X2 takes better images.

Similarly at night, both take good shots and with their dedicated Night Modes perform better. Here also the Realme 6 Pro has better detail and the light captured in the background is better as the Ultra Night Mode works really well on the Realme 6 Pro.

There is a dedicated 64MP mode on both smartphones which use pixel binning and result in 16MP images with good detail.

Both have a similar 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with a 119-degree field of view and take equally well-detailed images. The colors do look washed out compared to the images shot from the main camera.

During the night, the ultrawide camera does a decent job in taking images where the NightScape on the Realme 6 Pro takes slightly better ultrawide shots over the POCO X2.

The third camera in the POCO X2 is a depth camera whereas the Realme 6 Pro has a 12MP telephoto camera that can do 5x optical zoom and 20x hybrid zoom.

The images taken are very good with punchier colors and with 5x zoom, the details are well seen but do lose some appeal. This telephoto camera is a good option at this price segment.

A view of an image from Realme 6 Pro’s telephoto camera

Similarly, at night, the images have excellent details from the telephoto camera and the NightScape works well bringing good details in the darkness.

Both have a 2MP macro camera that can take close up macro shots. Here the POCO X2 takes some better looking macro shots compared to the Realme 6 Pro.

The colors look punchier and the details are easily visible on the POCO X2 whereas the colors look washed out on the macro shots taken from the Realme 6 Pro.

Coming to portraits, the Realme 6 Pro uses the telephoto camera for portraits whereas the POCO X2 has a dedicated 2MP depth camera.

The portraits come out well on both smartphones.

The POCO X2 takes better portraits with good edge detection and the background blur works well. When zoomed into the portraits, the POCO X2 results in some over sharpness but brings in better detail.

On the front, both the smartphones get dual cameras where the POCO X2 has gone for a 20MP f/2.2 main camera and a 2MP f/2.4 depth camera, the Realme 6 Pro has a 16MP f/2.1 main camera accompanied by an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera.

The front camera takes good images on both of them but the Realme 6 Pro takes better selfies thus bringing much more detail in the images and when zooming into it, retains the sharpness better compared to the POCO X2.
The POCO X2 also takes good selfies and with the depth sensor, the images come out good.

With portraits, the Realme 6 Pro outperforms the POCO X2 though it is having a dedicated depth camera. The edge detection and background blur are better on the Realme 6 Pro.

In terms of videos, both smartphones have support for 4K video support @ 30fps. There is also support for 1080p at 60 and 30fps. The POCO X2 has better video footage as compared to the Realme 6 Pro as the video is better stabilized but the video tends to crop a bit.

On the other hand, the Realme 6 Pro has a wider dynamic range but the details are better on the POCO X2.
Similarly at 1080p, the EIS comes into the picture, both smartphones take equally sharp and better videos and but here the POCO X2 has a warmer tone and the Realme 6 Pro cooler tones.

Realme also provides a Steady Mode which can make the videos stable.
Similarly, with the ultrawide camera, the results of the videos were the same.

The telephoto camera videos are also better than the POCO X2‘s zoomed videos through the main camera and with macro, both struggle to capture good videos.

Similarly on the front, the Realme 6 Pro has support for Slow-Motion videos which is a great feature and the 16MP camera takes good videos and it is also capable of taking ultrawide videos using the 8MP ultrawide front camera.

The POCO X2 also takes good videos through the front camera and the depth sensor helps in taking good portrait videos but Realme 6 Pro here has a bokeh mode for the videos where we can adjust the background blur.

So the final conclusion for the cameras are:

The POCO X2 has better main camera performance whether day or night and better macro camera compared to the Realme 6 Pro.
The Realme 6 Pro has a better dynamic range and the telephoto camera is a better implementation compared to the depth camera on the POCO X2.
The front camera is better on the Realme 6 Pro as it has a wider dynamic range and that ultrawide camera is very useful for group selfies.
When it comes to videos, the POCO X2 has better video footage compared to the Realme 6 Pro.

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Battery Life:

When it comes to battery, the POCO X2 has a larger 4500mAh battery which is 200mAh more than the Realme 6 Pro which has a 4300mAh battery. Both these smartphones provide 5-6 hours of screen on time but here the Realme 6 Pro edges when it comes to battery life as it provides slightly 30 mins more than the POCO X2. This is mainly due to the slightly lesser 90Hz refresh rate compared to 120Hz on the POCO X2.

The Realme 6 Pro lasted for around more than a day with moderate usage and display set to 60Hz whereas the POCO X2 had almost 15-20 percent left after one and a half days. However when used both smartphones heavily which means 3-4 hours of PUBG gameplay, the Realme 6 Pro lost about 10 percent of the battery and the POCO X2 lost around 16 percent. So in terms of battery drain, the Realme 6 Pro is better.

Both the smartphones ship with their respective fast chargers where Realme 6 Pro supports 30W VOOC 4.0 charging, the POCO X2 has support for 27W fast charging.

Calculating the charge time, the Realme 6 Pro charges from 0 to 68 percent in the first 30 mins and takes 37 mins for the POCO X2. From 0 to 100, the Realme 6 Pro takes 68 mins whereas for the POCO X2 it takes 63mins.

The Realme 6 Pro also has support for USB PD fast-charging up to 18W which the POCO X2 lacks.

In terms of battery life, the Realme 6 Pro with the support for fast charging and slightly better screen on time edges over the POCO X2.

POCO X2 vs Realme 6 Pro Audio Quality:

The POCO X2 and Realme 6 Pro sport single speaker setup and audio through both of these are equally good but the POCO X2 sounds slightly better. The call quality is also better on the POCO X2.

The Realme 6 Pro provides Dolby Atmos that enhances the audio quality while watching a movie or playing games.

The audio output through the 3.5mm headphone jack is also better on the POCO X2 compared to the Realme 6 Pro by a very little margin.

Verdict:

Both are very strong offerings under Rs.20000 and provide some very good specifications. Both smartphones had a very closely matched comparison. The POCO X2 has a slightly larger screen, a higher refresh rate display, a slightly powerful chipset, and better rear camera performance when it comes to photos and videos.

The Realme 6 Pro, on the other hand, provides a better UI experience, has a telephoto camera, better battery life, and a better front camera. Both smartphones have good and attractive designs and will appeal to many users.

Now coming to prices, the POCO X2 starts at Rs.15999 for the 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, Rs.16999 for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and Rs.19999 for the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.

The Realme 6 Pro is priced one thousand more than the POCO X2 making the POCO X2 a better value for money option. The base variant is the 6GB RAM and 64GB storage which is priced at Rs.16999, the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage at Rs.18999 and the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage at Rs.19999. Both have the UFS 2.1 storage.

Here also the POCO X2 edges with a higher 256GB storage variant but the Realme 6 Pro has a dedicated microSD card slot for further expansion of storage.

Considering all the features of both the smartphones, the POCO X2 seems to be a better value if you consider the higher refresh rate and performance when taken into consideration while the Realme 6 Pro has the more versatile cameras of the two and good performance.

It all depends on your personal preference which one should you consider as both are very excellent offerings in this price segment.