You’re getting MIUI 14 layered on top of Android 13 with the Poco F5, just like with the Poco F5 Pro, not to mention the Xiaomi 13 and the Redmi Note 12 Pro. It’s no less cluttered or clumsy here. Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone brand is launching the Poco F5 and F5 Pro later. The new products are expected to be top contenders in the mid-range smartphones market. At 162.78 x 75.44 x 8.59mm and 204g, the Poco F5 Pro lives in the big-but-not-gigantic territory that most mid-range phones exist in. It feels robust and comfortable in the hand, though you’d never mistake it for something more expensive. The Poco F5 and Poco F5 Pro are expected to be aggressively priced to take on the competition in the mid-range smartphone market.

The F5 Pro gets a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, but the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 in the Poco F5 actually outperforms it in many benchmarks. In everyday use, I did not feel any difference. Both phones can smoothly run games like Real Racing 3 and PUBG Mobile at a high frame rate, and the Pro kept its cool during a monster session of Kingdom Rush Vengeance. Beyond the quirks of Xiaomi’s user interface, MIUI 14, I had no issues jumping in and out of apps, scrolling the web, or using the camera. Decidedly less premium is the provision of an IP53 rating. We’ve seen mid-range phones such as the Nothing Phone (1) and the Samsung Galaxy A54 offering IP67, so it’s possible to get proper waterproofing for an even cheaper price. It would have been a lot better to swap out the macro sensor with a telephoto shooter. Since this isn't the case, the phone crops in on the main camera when you're zooming in on a scene. This is generally fine on a bright sunny day, with a respectable level of detail, decent exposure, and a good dynamic range. However, images tend to become soft when the sky is overcast. The triple lens cameras in the F5 and F5 Pro are identical, consisting of a 64-megapixel main lens, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 2-megapixel macro lens. You also get a 16-megapixel selfie camera in each phone, and while you can dig into settings to snap a full 64-megapixel shot, I don’t advise it. Likewise, for extreme close-ups, you might dig into the menu to find the macro option, but you can expect woefully inferior shots.The day-to-day performance of the phone shows that it occupies the slot between recent flagship models and upper mid-rangers, which is to be expected of the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2. This means that general scrolling, web browsing, and multitasking work fine, although I do notice occasional lag when returning to the home screen. That said, this does not occur often enough to be a major issue. On the other hand, the Poco F5 Pro has an additional 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, both phones feature a 16MP front-facing camera. Poco battery power Xiaomi is also keeping things the same with the camera on the POCO F5, which is the same setup as the POCO F4. It's also the same set of shooters for the F5 Pro, and while that's not entirely a bad thing, the auxiliary cameras are not quite the best on the market.

There’s a certain symmetry to the top and bottom bezels, which is always nice to see in a cheaper phone. You still only get an IP53 rating, however, which is inferior to the likes of the Pixel 7a and the Samsung Galaxy A54. There’s Gorilla Glass 5 around front, which beats the Pixel 7a’s GG3 for toughness.

Headphone Port and Plenty of Memory

Xiaomi has given the Poco F5 a 5000mAh battery, which is much larger than the Poco F4’s 4500mAh cell. Considering last year’s model was quite a bit heavier, that’s quite a feat. Ultimately, like the Poco F5 Pro, the Poco F5 is something of a mid-range specialist, offering a strong media and gaming-focused experience for decent money. If your priorities lie elsewhere – flagship-level design, clean software, or a genuinely good camera, say – there are plenty of better options for similar or even less money.