Poco X4 Pro review: Premium design and display shine, but gaming performance lags X3 Pro

The Poco X4 Pro arrives as a phone caught between two impulses: the desire to feel premium and the need to stay affordable. In yellow glass, it succeeds at the former in ways that seem almost unfair for a device priced under Rs 20,000. But that same glass conceals a harder truth—this phone is not what the Poco X-series used to be, and depending on what you want from it, that matters a great deal.

The device presents itself confidently. The 6.67-inch AMOLED display runs at 120Hz and reaches 1200 nits of brightness, making it one of the sharpest screens available at this price point. The edges are minimal, the punch-hole cutout sits centered and small, and the viewing angles are wide enough that watching video or scrolling through photos feels genuinely immersive. The touch response hits 360Hz, which means there is virtually no lag between your finger and the screen's reaction. On paper, this is a display that should satisfy almost anyone.

The design reinforces that premium impression. The glass sandwich construction, the solid build quality, the thoughtful placement of the camera island—it all reads as a phone that costs considerably more than it does. Poco added an IP53 rating for dust and water resistance, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that works quickly and accurately, and stereo speakers that sound well-balanced. The only design compromise is the main camera lens, which protrudes enough that using the phone without a case leaves it vulnerable to scratches and damage. It is a flaw that feels almost intentional, as if the phone is asking you to choose between its beauty and its durability.

The camera itself performs competently without excelling. Daytime shots are pleasant to look at, though they sometimes lack fine detail. The color consistency between the main and ultrawide lenses is commendable, though images tend toward softness. The macro mode disappoints, but night photography surprised in a positive way. Portrait mode handles edge detection reasonably well, and skin tones read as accurate. The front camera delivers satisfying results. None of this is exceptional, but it is solid enough for a phone at this price.

Where the X4 Pro stumbles is in the engine. The Snapdragon 695 chipset is not a bad processor—it handles daily tasks, multitasking, and even demanding games like Call of Duty Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India without crashing. But it is substantially weaker than the Snapdragon 860 that powered the previous X3 Pro, and that gap becomes visible when you push the phone. On BGMI, the X4 Pro maxes out at Balanced or HD settings, while the older X3 Pro could reach Extreme. The 695 also removed 4K video recording from the camera app and eliminated HDR support—both casualties of stepping down to a 600-series chip. For casual players, this matters less. For anyone who bought a Poco phone specifically for gaming performance, it matters a great deal.

The battery lasts a full day comfortably, and the 67W fast charging reaches 50 percent in roughly 15 to 20 minutes before slowing down. A complete charge takes around an hour and ten minutes, which is respectable. But the phone launches with Android 11, which means its software support window closes around Android 13—a limitation that feels outdated for a device arriving in 2022. A mid-range phone at this moment should ship with Android 12 as a baseline.

The X4 Pro also arrives into a market where the X-series no longer occupies its old position. The X3 Pro, despite being older, remains the only Snapdragon 800-series phone available under Rs 20,000, and it still outperforms the newer device in gaming and raw processing power. The X4 Pro compensates with 5G support, but 5G infrastructure remains sparse enough across India that this advantage feels theoretical rather than practical. For users upgrading from an X3 Pro, the trade-offs do not justify the switch.

What the X4 Pro becomes, then, is a solid all-around phone for users who want good design, a bright display, and reliable everyday performance without needing to push the hardware to its limits. It is a competent device that competes well against other sub-Rs 20,000 options. But it is no longer the phone that makes power users and gamers sit up and take notice. The X-series built its reputation on delivering exceptional performance at budget prices. The X4 Pro delivers exceptional design and display instead, which is not nothing—it is simply a different phone than the one that came before it.