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We haven’t heard from POCO in a while. But after a rather dormant 2020, the former Xiaomi sub-brand has opened the year with a couple of big smartphone releases, both incredibly affordable for their specs and both promising uncompromised performance.

As expected, the POCO X3 Pro announced in today’s livestream matches the images and specs posted on Shopee Vietnam last week. Meanwhile, the full specifications of the POCO F3 leaked yesterday. As it turns out, POCO’s latest flagship is indeed a rebranded Redmi K40 for international markets. You might recall that POCO went the same route with the POCO F2 Pro, which was a rehashed Redmi K30 Pro without a 12GB RAM option.

We’ll focus on the F3 in this article, then tackle the X3 Pro in another. Both deserve a spot in the limelight, starting with the genuine successor to the POCO F1 or Pocophone F1.

POCO F3 price and availability

Like the F1 that launched in the Philippines in 2018, the F3 will start at P17,990, or roughly $371 converted, for 6GB RAM and 128GB of native storage. Meanwhile, the 8GB/256GB storage variant is priced at P20,990 ($431) — still an incredible value given its 5G-capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset that’s faster than what the Snapdragon 865 Plus-based ASUS ROG Phone 3 (and many other flagships from 2020) ships with at more than double the cost at least.

That’s not all. The POCO F3 will be heavily discounted during Lazada’s Birthday Sale event on March 27, dropping its price to P15,990 ($330) for the base variant, while the 8GB/256GB edition will be down to P18,990 ($392) until supplies last. That’s astonishing value for money if we ever saw one.

The POCO F3 will be available in Arctic White, Night Black, and Deep Ocean Blue colors.

Globally, the POCO F3 is priced as follows:

• 6GB/128GB: €349
• 8GB/256GB: €399

POCO F3 specs and features

Besides launching as the first Snapdragon 870-based smartphone on the local market, the POCO F3 boasts a 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling, up to 1,300 nits of peak brightness, and HDR10+ capabilities. The phone is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back.

Its triple rear cameras include a 48-megapixel main sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide option, and a 5-megapixel telemacro shooter that can take pictures between 3cm and 7cm. The selfie camera is 20 megapixels and can access Night mode for brighter selfies in low light. A 4,520mAh battery keeps the lights on and supports 33-watt fast charging out of the box. POCO says the F3 can be charged from zero to full capacity in just 52 minutes.

Video: POCO F3 and POCO X3 Pro global launch, in case you missed the livestream

POCO F3 specs

• 6.67-inch FHD+, 2,400 x 1,080, 120Hz E4 AMOLED screen with HDR10+, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 (front and back), 360Hz touch sampling
• 7nm octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor with 5G
• 6GB/8GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Triple 48-megapixel, f/1.8 (main), 8MP, f/2.2 (ultra wide), and 5MP (telemacro) rear cameras
• 20-megapixel, f/2.4 front camera
• Fingerprint sensor (side-mounted)
• 4,520mAh battery with 33-watt USB-C fast charging
• MIUI 12 for POCO based on Android 11
• Color options: Arctic White, Night Black, and Deep Ocean Blue

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