The POCO M3 Pro 5G is priced to kill in the budget smartphone segment

If you all you need is a phone that does everything reasonably well, it's hard to justify anything else.

by Justin Choo

The POCO M3 Pro 5G is remarkably cheap – at an early bird price of $279 for the 6G RAM model ($249 early bird for 4GB RAM, but that’s cutting it a little close, spec-wise), the M3 Pro 5G has everything you need from a smartphone for a pittance.

The phone is equipped with the 7nm process MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G (Cortex-A76 with Mali-G57), which also provides 5G dual SIM support. It’s coupled with UFS 2.2 storage, giving it a good balance of economics and performance regardless of whether you are gaming or watching movies.

The 6.5″ DotDisplay (camera appears as a dot) uses an FHD+ (2,400 x 1,080) panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. A DynamicSwitch feature automatically switches the refresh rate depending on what’s happening on the screen to save power. It also features dual light sensors (front and back) for a more accurate assessment of ambient light, which lets the phone dynamically adjust the screen brightness more optimally.

Camera-wise, you get a 48MP main camera along with a 2MP macro camera and 2MP depth sensor, while the 5,000mAh battery is rated by POCO for up to two days’ use. The phone also supports 18W fast charging support and comes packed with a 22.5W in-box charger. Other notable features include an IR blaster, NFC and a headphone jack.

If you’ve made it this far, then you’d probably realised that this is basically the same phone as the Redmi Note 10 5G with a different shell – and a more energetically coloured one at that. Whilst the Redmi takes on a muted matte look and feel, the M3 Pro has a glossy finish and is decked out in yellow, blue and black.

The POCO M3 Pro 5G is available exclusively on Shopee Shopee and is priced at $299 for the 4GB+64GB variant and $339 for the 6GB+128GB variant . Both are available at an early bird price of $249 and $279 respectively for 48 hours from the start of the sale, June 5, 23:59 via Shopee, while stocks last.