Xiaomi Poco X7 smartphone review - Top display and great suitability for everyday use at a fair price

The Xiaomi Poco X7 is already a hit as soon as you feel it, as its high-quality case with an IP68 certification and narrow bezels conveys much more of a premium feel than its price would suggest. But its features also fit the bill.

Highlights include its bright 120-Hz AMOLED display and MediaTek SoC, which guarantees solid everyday performance. A 5,110 mAh battery ensures that the Poco X7 will get you through the day even with intensive use. It also features eSIM support and software updates until 2029.

It's a shame that Xiaomi doesn't include a 45-watt power adapter with the EU/UK versions of the Poco X7, as this would allow it to be recharged fairly quickly. Its 50 MP camera also isn't really a highlight, as its zoom and low-light performance is weak—but at least it takes decent photos in daylight. The phone's WLAN data transfer rates are stable but not particularly high.

The Xiaomi Poco X7 retails for approximately $300, but you can already find it for less on sites such as Amazon, where it currently costs $282.94.

Xiaomi's Poco X7 is an affordable all-round smartphone whose price starts at around $300 and that boasts extensive features. The 6.67-inch device is powered by the mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 7300 SoC and has a 120-Hz AMOLED display as well as up to 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. Other features include a 50-MP triple camera, a 5,110 mAh battery and 45-watt charging.

The Poco X7 has a completely different design language from its sister model of almost the same name, the Poco X7 Pro. Instead of a flat and angular design, it has a curved display and a back cover that is rounded on the long sides.

In addition to its low weight of just under 186 grams (190 grams with synthetic leather), the 6.67-inch device boasts great build quality. Its AMOLED display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and the smartphone is dust and waterproof in accordance with IP68.

Xiaomi offers the Poco X7 in three colorways. Our test device is the silver color variant with a matte plastic back cover, just like the green variant. The black variant, on the other hand, is made of artificial leather with a two-tone look consisting of narrower yellow edge strips and a wide black central area.

Xiaomi hasn't provided any precise information about the proportion of recycled materials used in its smartphones. However, according to the manufacturer, the amount of recycled aluminum, gold and copper has been increased in its smartphone components. The company also aims to keep its own ecological footprint as small as possible through measures such as producing plastic material from discarded fishing nets and trade-in programs.

The Xiaomi Poco X7 features good connectivity options, including WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC and a 5G modem. With 14 5G bands and 17 4G bands, it also features solid frequency coverage, which should be sufficient to ensure reception in most places.

Connected to Wi-Fi, the Poco X7 achieved stable but slow Wi-Fi transfer rates in combination with our Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 reference router, which is due to the antenna technology used (1x1 MIMO). At its peak, it only managed just under 400 MBit/s, so far below the data throughput delivered by similarly priced competitors. The Poco X7 doesn't support the 6 GHz band.

The Poco X7 supports dual SIM, VoLTE and Wi-Fi calls. Interestingly, unlike the more expensive Pro model, you can also activate an eSIM on this phone. To do so, you have to deactivate the second SIM slot in the phone settings.

The Poco X7 reproduces voices impressively. When making calls to landlines and mobile networks, voices sound natural and background noise is well suppressed.

The Xiaomi Poco X7 comes with a USB-C cable, a SIM tool, a protective cover and two leaflets with a quick start guide as well as safety and warranty information.

On Xiaomi's online store, you can purchase a power supply unit and the Xiaomi Care insurance cover for the Poco X7. This runs for 2 years and covers either accidental damage only or theft.

The Xiaomi phone is covered by a standard 12-month warranty.

The Poco X7 relies on a solid mid-range SoC, the MediaTek Dimensity 7300, which ensures smooth operation during everyday use. Even so, there are significantly more powerful smartphones available in this price range, such as the Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro.

The Poco X7 loads websites quickly. During the browser benchmarks, the Xiaomi phone performed at the same level as the comparison devices.

Thanks to its UFS 2.2 storage, the smartphone achieved solid data transfer rates during our test, keeping loading times relatively short. However, its sometimes very slow random read and write accesses showed that its memory controller isn't the most efficient.

The MediaTek Dimensity 7300's ARM Mali-G615 MP2 GPU is only suitable for graphically complex calculations to a limited extent but can run games quite smoothly. However, you'll usually have to reduce the image details for this.

The Xiaomi Poco X7 faces no temperature problems whatsoever. The smartphone neither gets too warm during normal operation nor does it have to clock down under continuous load due to overheating. This means that users have the full SoC performance available at all times.

The phone's stereo speakers are low in bass, but otherwise produce a balanced sound that reproduces voices and music with a high level of differentiation.

Wired external audio devices can be connected via the USB-C port, while Bluetooth 5.4 is available for wireless audio transmissions. The Poco X7 supports almost all important Bluetooth codecs, including SBC, AAC, LDAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX TWS+ and LHDC V1 to V5.