The Poco X3 Pro is phenomenal value for Black Friday

I write quite a lot of budget phone reviews for Expert Reviews, and invariably I find myself concluding with some variation of the phrase “it’s okay, but the Xiaomi Poco is better for the same/less money.” 
 
Xiaomi’s Poco sub brand has really given budget manufacturers a headache by delivering more for less.
 
And now, thanks to the magic of Black Friday, the phone is even better value than usual. With an RRP of £249, the Poco X3 Pro is now just £159 at Amazon — a saving of 36%.
 
To be clear, this is a handset that hasn’t actually crossed our desks here, but the £199 non-Pro version did and grabbed a five-star ‘best buy’ review from our Senior Editor Nathan Spendelow.
 
“If you love a bargain and you’re in the mood for an industry-leading smartphone that resets the benchmark of what to expect, the Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC is clearly the informed choice,” he wrote. “A budget-priced phone with mid-range performance, you really can’t do any better.”
 
Well, apparently you can do better with this offer which is £40 off and a substantially faster phone. The Poco X3 Pro improves over the original by utilising the Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 in place of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G — an older chip, but a faster one, and there’s no contest in terms of performance, even if battery may be slightly hit. 
 
Otherwise the specs are remarkably similar, though there is a slight hit to on-paper camera specs — though in practice, you likely wouldn’t notice the difference.
 
In short, it’s a whole lot of phone for £250. For £159, it’s a whole different tier of bargain.   
 
Buy now from Amazon