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The POCO M5 and M5s are here! The phones are also selling in the Philippines

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Comes with free deadboot and a Redmi Note 10S

POCO M5 in POCO Yellow

POCO is always hyping up their phones prior to their release date no matter the class. Be it budget, midrangers, flagship killers, and flagships. You can always expect POCO to glorify their phones to make them seem more special.

That’s the same case with the POCO M5 and M5s. They are glorified but isn’t anything special. You might notice that POCO has always consistently promoted the M5 and has put the M5s in the shadows. That’s because you probably own the M5s, except it’s called the Redmi Note 10S

POCO M5s

“The fun magician”… that’s a weird way to say “reduce, reuse, recycle”. The M5s is literally just the Redmi Note 10S released almost two years ago. So POCO here is taking pride in a phone that’s out of date.

It has an identical spec sheet consisting of a 60Hz 6.43in. AMOLED screen with an IP53 rating. Also, it features the same two-year-old MediaTek Helio G95 chipset paired with 4 or 6GB RAM and either 64 or 128GB internal storage.

Because of that, it features the same cameras as well, consisting of a 64MP + 8MP ultrawide + 2mp depth and macro combination and a 13MP punch hole camera. While the body and internals are all dated, the software is at least MIUI 13 based on Android 12. Xiaomi recycles their phone so much that they contribute more than Apple in saving the environment — all without the need to remove the charger in the box (and then resell it with a separate packaging anyway).

The phone is available in the Philippines, at a price of Php 9,999 and Php 10,899 for the 4/64 or 6/128 configurations, respectively. This is actually overpriced and absurd as you can purchase a new Redmi Note 10S for an even cheaper price at a higher storage and RAM option. Sure you’re missing out on the newer Android version but there’s nothing like custom ROMs can’t fix, even if it uses a MediaTek chipset. MediaTek is infamous for locking the source code making it hard for the custom ROM community to customize phones using a MediaTek chip.

SPECS:

The M5s is available via Shopee today, Sept 6th.

POCO M5

As we mentioned, the M5s has been kept closed in the shadows as if POCO was forced to release for the sake of adding a “series” of M5 phones. Even its summary sheet doesn’t look enthusiastic. It feels basic and not the POCO sheet we know. It just has to be released.

Now let’s get to the phone that POCO enthusiastically wanted to show us. Enter the M5. It looks similar to the M4 4G series with a few minor updates. It still uses the fugly waterdrop notch.

The screen, unlike the Pocomi Note M5s, is a 6.58in. FHD+ (2400x1080px) IPS LCD with 90Hz refresh rate and a responsive 240Hz touch sampling rate. It uses a terribly dated waterdrop notch that houses the 8MP selfie camera.

Speaking of cameras, there are three at the back. These are arranged similarly to the POCO M4 4G. It consists of a 50MP primary and two useless 2mp macro and depth sensors.

The main reason why POCO is hyping this is because of its Helio G99 chipset, the phone’s main feature. This is the first time POCO has used it and the first of the G series to be manufactured using a 6nm TSMC process. This is paired with the same 4/64 and 6/128 configurations as the POCO Note M5s. The MicroSD card slot is present to further expand the storage

Inside is a 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging. It also comes with its own game enhancement software called Game Turbo 5.0 which optimizes your games and helps it reduce battery consumption. It charges through its USB-C port.

It comes with a 3.5mm jack, an IR blaster (Xiaomi’s signature feature), dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3 LE, and 4G LTE. Knowing POCO, there will definitely be 5G versions of the M5 series and maybe some extra bells and whistles just to confuse you further.

In the Philippines, the phone is priced much more fairly. It starts at Php 9,499 (early bird: Php 7,399) and Php 10,499 (early bird: Php 8,799). Although this might seem affordable at first glance, take note that there are 5G phones better than it at a similar or lower price tag and that its fair price is merely an illusion because the M5s appears to be much more pricey and has “better” specs.

It comes in POCO Yellow, Power Black, and Icy Blue colours.

SPECS:

The phone is exclusively only available in Lazada. It will be available on a much later date, September 7 and the early bird promos are available until September 12 only.

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