POCO announces M4 5G, a new budget phone with large battery and fluid screen

Xiaomi and Redmi sister brand POCO is launching a new budget smartphone globally, the M4 5G. As the name suggests, it comes equipped with next-gen antennas for fast data transfers, but also benefits from other perks like a mid-range processor from MediaTek’s Dimensity series, the latest version of Xiaomi’s MIUI, large battery and a large screen with fluid refresh rate.

POCO M4 5G is pretty powerful for an entry-level 5G smartphone

The POCO M4 5G benefits from a 6.58″ diagonal screen with FullHD+ resolution in 20:9 aspect ratio. It uses a 90Hz LCD panel, but can also operate at 30 or 60Hz, depending on application needs, to reduce power consumption. With 500 nits of brightness and a teardrop-shaped notch, it’s not the most modern display, but it offers plenty of advantages for a budget smartphone.

The hardware configuration is based on the MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, a 2.2 GHz octa-core model, manufactured on 7nm architecture. This means that it will be fairly power efficient, but not as well optimized as more recent 5nm models. The phone is available in two configurations, with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, both with the option to add microSD card up to 1TB.

Even though on the front, the phone protects the screen with Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the back is plastic, as we’ve come to expect from POCO models since the beginning. On the inside, the back cover protects a 5,000 mAh battery with fast charging at 18W. It’s odd though that this model comes with a 22.5W charger. Presumably Xiaomi had more such chargers in stock and had to use them. If you have other phones in the Xiaomi family that are compatible with 22.5W charging, those might charge faster with the POCO M4 5G’s charger.

Cameras are the biggest compromise

When it comes to cameras, we don’t have much to say. These are clearly the items that received the least attention from the manufacturer. We’re dealing with a 13-megapixel main camera and wide f/2.2 aperture lens, along with a 2-megapixel depth camera. The front camera, integrated into the notch, offers a resolution of only 5 megapixels.

At least on the connectivity front we can mention both dual-SIM 5G network compatibility, even, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 5, NFC and a fingerprint sensor on the side.

We still don’t have an official price for Romania for this mode, but considering that the previously launched M4 Pro variant costs around 900 lei in Romanian stores, the new M4 will most likely be released at an even lower price.