Poco M7 Pro 5G Review: Style Meets Value
Is the Poco M7 Pro 5G the best budget phone of 2025? Our review covers its stylish design, 120Hz AMOLED screen, 50MP OIS camera, and the performance trade-offs you need to know about before you buy.
Poco has built its reputation on delivering maximum performance for minimum price, but with the Poco M7 Pro 5G, the brand is taking a slightly different approach. A stylish cousin to the popular Redmi Note 14 5G, this device focuses on delivering a premium look, a brilliant display, and a few key features that matter most, all while hitting an incredibly aggressive price point.
But to achieve this low price, some compromises were necessary. Does the Poco M7 Pro 5G strike the right balance between style, features, and performance, or have the cuts gone too deep? We find out in our detailed review.
Design and Build Quality
Where the Poco M7 Pro 5G immediately stands out is its design. Eschewing boring, single-colour plastic backs, Poco has opted for an eye-catching dual-tone finish with a unique marble-like texture on its lower portion. Available in attractive colours like Olive Twilight, Lavender Frost, and Lunar Dust, it looks far more expensive than it is. Poco M7 Pro 5G Review
The build consists of a plastic frame and back, which keeps the phone light and comfortable to hold at 190 grams. The front is protected by durable Gorilla Glass 5, and the device boasts an IP64 rating for dust and splash resistance, providing peace of mind against light rain or spills. For a budget device, the build feels solid and thoughtfully designed.
Display: A Bright Spot in the Budget Segment
The display is, without question, a standout feature. The Poco M7 Pro 5G is equipped with a large 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a crisp 1080p resolution. The inclusion of a 120Hz refresh rate ensures that scrolling and animations are fluid and smooth, a feature that still feels premium at this price.
It gets impressively bright, reaching nearly 1,200 nits in auto-brightness mode, making it easily viewable even under direct sunlight. With support for HDR10+, content from streaming services looks vibrant and punchy. This is an excellent screen for media consumption and one of the best you’ll find in this category.
Performance: Where Compromises Are Made
To hit its target price, Poco equipped the M7 Pro 5G with the MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra chipset. While this processor is perfectly capable of handling daily tasks like browsing, social media, and video streaming without any issues, it falls behind the competition in terms of raw power.
Compared to other phones in this price bracket, the Dimensity 7025’s GPU is relatively basic. This means that while casual games will run fine, more demanding 3D titles will require lower graphics settings to be playable. Simply put, if gaming is your priority, there are more powerful options available for a slightly higher price.
The phone comes in several configurations, starting from 6GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage, which is expandable via a hybrid microSD card slot.
Cameras: A Simplified but Capable Setup
Poco has simplified the camera system here, removing the ultrawide and macro lenses found on its Redmi counterpart to focus on the main shooter. The result is a dual-camera setup:
- 50MP Main Camera with OIS
- 2MP Depth Sensor
The 50MP main camera is the star of the show. Thanks to the inclusion of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)—a rarity at this price—it produces good, steady shots. In daylight, photos are detailed with lively colours. The OIS also helps in low-light conditions, where the camera delivers clean and reasonably sharp images with the help of its automatic Night Mode.
The 2x digital zoom is soft and best avoided. The 20MP front camera takes well-exposed selfies with good colours, but the fine detail is mediocre. For video, recording is capped at 1080p at 30fps for both the front and rear cameras, which is adequate but falls short of competitors that offer 4K recording.
Battery Life and Charging Speed
A large 5,110mAh battery powers the Poco M7 Pro 5G, delivering solid, all-day battery life for most users. While not a two-day champion, it will comfortably get you from morning to night without battery anxiety.
Where the phone truly shines is its charging speed. It supports 45W fast wired charging, and unlike many competitors, it includes the 45W power adapter in the box (in most regions). In our testing, it charged from empty to 58% in just 30 minutes, with a full charge taking about an hour.
Software: The HyperOS Experience and an Update Caveat
The phone runs Xiaomi’s HyperOS 1.0 based on Android 14 out of the box. However, a major update to HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15 is available immediately upon setup.
This presents a strange situation. Poco promises two major OS upgrades for the device. By providing the Android 15 update right away, one of those promised updates is effectively used up from day one. This is a crucial point for buyers who value long-term software support. Aside from this, HyperOS is a feature-rich and customizable interface, though it does come with pre-installed bloatware and ads in some system apps.
Verdict: Good Value, But Better Options Are a Step Away
The Poco M7 Pro 5G is a phone of calculated compromises. It succeeds brilliantly in its goal of offering a premium-feeling experience in key areas—design, display, and charging speed—for a very low price. The main camera with OIS is also a strong performer for its class.
However, its biggest weakness is the subpar chipset, which struggles to keep up with similarly priced rivals, making it a poor choice for gamers. The confusing software update policy is another notable drawback.
If your budget is strictly limited and you value a great screen and stylish design above all else, the Poco M7 Pro 5G is a solid choice. But if you can stretch your budget even slightly, competitors from Realme or Samsung offer a more balanced and powerful experience.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Stylish, eye-catching design with IP64 splash resistance.
- Bright, fluid 120Hz AMOLED display with HDR10+.
- Very fast 45W wired charging with the adapter included.
- Loud stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
- Decent main camera with the benefit of OIS.
- Excellent value-for-money feature set.
Cons:
- Chipset performance is below average for the price segment.
- No ultrawide camera.
- Video recording is limited to 1080p.
- Launches with an older Android version, using up one of its promised updates immediately.
Pricing and Availability
The Poco M7 Pro 5G is priced very competitively in the Indian market and is also available in Europe and other regions.
- 128GB 6GB RAM: ₹ 12,489
- 256GB 8GB RAM: ₹ 15,477 / $ 226.99
- 256GB 12GB RAM: $ 262.35 / € 199.90
