POCO has made a name for itself in the past few years, bringing to market some of the most affordable devices packing a flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. 2018’s POCO F1 had a Snapdragon 845 and a price tag of P17,990. The F2 Pro launched in June 2020 came with a Snapdragon 865, priced at P26,990.

This year, the brand has the POCO F3, equipped with the Snapdragon 870, priced at P17,990. Only the Snapdragon 888 is more powerful than the 870 in the current Qualcomm lineup found in devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S21 phones (US model) and the Xiaomi Mi 11. The former’s price starts at P47,990 while the latter goes for P36,990.

The F3 has a 6.67-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, also making it one of the cheaper phones to have a 120Hz display. It also has a high touch sampling rate of 360Hz, and Gorilla Glass 5.

The F3’s camera setup includes a 48 megapixel (MP) main camera, an ultra-wide, and a 5MP telemacro lens capable of autofocus at 3 to 7 centimeters. On the front is a 20MP camera with night mode. A triple microphone system allows for audio zooming when recording a video, allowing the user to focus on the sound of a subject.

The P17,990 model has 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage while the P20,990 variant has 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The phones will be discounted for early buyers on March 27, with prices at P15,990 and P18,990 for the 6GB+128GB and the 8GB+256GB variants, respectively.

Alongside the F3, POCO launched the X3 Pro featuring a Snapdragon 860 chipset, a 6.67-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate, and Gorilla Glass 6. Its camera setup includes a 48MP main shooter, an ultra-wide, a macro lens, and a depth sensor.

The 6GB RAM and 128GB memory variant will retail for P12,990 while the 8GB RAM and 256GB memory variant will go for P15,990. The more expensive variant will be exclusively available on Shopee. The phones get early bird pricing on March 24: P10,990 for the 6GB+128GB variant, and P13,990 for the 8+256GB variant. – Rappler.com