Just when we thought Xiaomi’s Poco was done rebranding Redmi phones and will be launching its own original phones, after the announcement of its latest Poco X3 NFC yesterday, it released another rebadged product. The Chinese giant has unveiled the budget-centric Poco M2 in India today.
The phone is a rebranded version of the Redmi 9 Prime that was unveiled last month, just with different colored rear panels.
If you are familiar with the Redmi 9 Prime, then you already know what the Poco M2 brings. The company has simply nixed the circular ring around the vertical camera array. All the other hardware features, including the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and waterdrop notch display, are the same.
Poco M2 features a 6.53-inch Full-HD+ IPS LCD panel with a standard 60Hz refresh rate. The display boasts a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 2340 x 1080 resolution, peak brightness of 400 nits, and Gorilla Glass 3 protection on top. The waterdrop notch houses an 8MP sensor to meet your selfie needs.
Under the hood, Poco M2 is powered by the Helio G80 chipset – the same as Redmi 9 Prime and Realme Narzo 10. You will also get 6GB LPDDR4x RAM and up to 128GB eMMC 5.1 storage, expandable up to 512GB via the dedicated microSD card slot. Poco M2 runs MIUI 11 based on Android 10, with the Poco Launcher on top. It’s saddening to see that the device does not come with MIUI 12 out-of-the-box.
As for the quad-camera on the rear, you will find a 13MP (f/2.2) primary camera, an 8MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera with a 118-degree FOV, a 5MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor.
Poco M2 also comes equipped with a massive 5,000mAh battery pack with 18W fast-charging support via the USB Type-C port out-of-the-box.
Poco M2 Specifications
Network Properties
- 2G bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
- 3G bands: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
- 4G bands: 1, 3, 5, 8, 40, 41
- Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A
Launch
- Announced: 2020, September 08
- Status: Exp. release 2020, September 15
Design
- Dimensions: 163.3 x 77 x 9.1 mm (6.43 x 3.03 x 0.36 in)
- Weight: 198 g (6.98 oz)
- Build: Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), plastic back, plastic frame
- Colors: Brick Red, Pitch Black, Slate Blue
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
- Water-repellent coating
Display
- Type: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Size: 6.53 inches, 104.7 cm2 (~83.2% screen-to-body ratio)
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~395 ppi density)
- Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- 400 nits typ. brightness (advertised)
Operating System
- Android 10, MIUI 11
Hardware
- Chipset: Mediatek Helio G80 (12 nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Mali-G52 MC2
- RAM: 6GB
- Storage: 64GB, 128GB
- Memory Card slot: microSDXC (dedicated slot)
- eMMC 5.1
Cameras
- Main Camera: Quad
- 13 MP, f/2.2, 28mm (wide), 1/3.1″, 1.12″m, PDAF
- 8 MP, f/2.2, 118? (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12″m
- 5 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
- 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
- Features: LED flash, HDR, panorama
- Video: 1080p@30fps
- Selfie Camera: Single – 8 MP, f/2.0, 27mm (wide), 1/4.0″, 1.12″m
- Feature: HDR
- Video: 1080p@30fps
Multimedia
- Radio: Wireless FM radio (no wired headphones required)
- Loudspeaker: Yes
- Audio 3.5mm jack: Yes
Connectivity
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
- Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE
- GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- Infrared port: Yes
- USB: 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go
Features
- Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass
Battery
- Battery Type and Capacity: Li-Po 5000 mAh, non-removable
- Charging: Fast charging 18W
Models: MZB9919IN
Poco M2 Price and Availability
- 6GB RAM + 64GB storage model costs INR10,999 ($150)
- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model costs INR12,499 ($170)
The Poco M2 is offered in Brick Red, Pitch Black and Slate Blue colors, and it will go on sale in India from September 15 through Flipkart.
