The POCO M4 Pro is its brand's first-ever 50MP main camera smartphone

Xiaomi's increasingly well-known POCO brand has chosen to celebrate the near-1-year anniversary of both its Community app and its M series with a new flagship for the latter. Accordingly, the brand has now confirmed that the M4 Pro 5G is effectively the global variant of the Redmi Note 11.

Therefore, this is indeed another rebrand from 1 Xiaomi subsidiary to another. Then again, as POCO emphasized during its freshly-completed final 2021 launch event, this is no bad thing. It has chosen the device in question to adopt as its own as its specs "beat" others in its market tier.

With its newer Dimensity 810 processor, 6.6-inch FHD+ 90Hz display and MIUI 12.5 out of the box, it also outshines its predecessor. The 2 do still have 5,000mAh batteries; however, the M4 Pro upgrades to "33W Pro" charging, which, as POCO asserts, might beat even some older 50W standards. Its "MMT charging technology" allows it to maintain a good rate all the way to 100%, rather than dropping off at 80-90% as usual.

The M3 Pro's extensive restyling from its own original Redmi roots may have helped it attract fans, and the M4 Pro has arguably improved on this record again. It still has the rather large hump for its 50+8MP dual (yet sufficient in main and inaugural ultra-wide functions) rear shooters, but, like its forebear, camouflages it with a cosmetic black tab.

This one extends all the way across the top of the rear panel, in an ostensibly Mi 11 Ultra-inspired fashion. It thus offers ample space for branding. On that note, the POCO Yellow backdrop has been retained as a colorway here, alongside Cool Blue and Power Black options.

They will be available from POCO's webstore or the platforms AliExpress, Goboo and Shopee to start off with, with availability on others such as Amazon to follow. The M4 Pro can be ordered in 2 SKUs, both of which come with 33W Pro power bricks in the box. The entry-level model has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage, whereas the top-end one is 6GB/128GB. They are now priced at €229 (~US$265) and €249 (~$288) respectively.

However, it wouldn't be a POCO launch without early bird pricing: the 4GB and 6GB M4 Pro configurations definitely has that going on, at just €199 (~$230) and €219 (~$254) respectively. This means the most potentially futureproof variant is less than the base model during this promotional period. Fans can grab these introductory deals from November 11, 2021.

Finally, POCO had a "one last thing" (of sorts) to unveil: the pre-existing F3 smartphone in a new colorway: Moonlight Silver. The brand failed to clarify whether it is included in its current Black Friday offerings or not, however.