The Poco M7 Plus has been my daily driver for over a week now, and I keep coming back to the same thought: this phone knows exactly what it wants to be.
It’s a capable budget device that ticks most of the right boxes—a massive 7,000mAh battery, a high refresh rate display, reliable performance, and that unmistakable Poco design language that refuses to blend in.
It doesn’t try to be subtle or overly premium. Instead, it leans into a more playful, in-your-face aesthetic clearly aimed at a younger audience. After living with it for a bit, here’s how it holds up in real life.
Poco M7 Plus Design: Loud, Chunky, and Very Poco
When I first unboxed the Poco M7 Plus, the design immediately reminded me of why Poco has managed to carve out its own identity. The back of the Poco M7 Plus feels like someone at Poco decided smartphones don’t always need to look boring. Instead of the usual glittery or glossy back, you get a bold, almost Lego-like design language. The panel is divided into geometric blocks with contrasting color accents — a bright red frame on top bleeding into a cool blue bottom edge. It’s loud, playful, and definitely not shy about being noticed.
The camera module sits tall on the left, an elongated black pill-shaped island that houses the dual cameras and LED flash. Below that, Poco’s branding runs vertically, almost like a fashion logo placement, signaling that this phone wants to be seen as much as it wants to be used.
The phone is still all plastic—no fancy glass or metal here—but the matte finish does a surprisingly good job of keeping fingerprints away. At 217 grams, it’s not exactly light. This is a big phone, and you’ll feel it in your pocket. But Poco has done enough with the flat sides and 8.40mm thickness to keep it manageable. The phone never felt like a brick in my hand, even after long scrolling sessions.
Overall, it's the kind of design you’ll either love instantly for its unapologetic personality or find a little too experimental. Either way, it makes the M7 Plus stand out in a market where most phones are still chasing “premium minimalism.” This one? It’s clearly having more fun.
Poco M7 Plus Display: Smooth Where It Matters
The front is dominated by a 6.9-inch Full HD+ LCD. Poco markets the 144Hz refresh rate heavily, and while the interface mostly runs at 120Hz, the effect is still noticeable. Scrolling through apps feels fluid, swipes register instantly, and gaming in titles that support higher refresh rates does feel smoother compared to other phones in this price range.
Colors are punchy and the panel is sharp enough for everyday use. Watching YouTube videos or catching up on Netflix shows is enjoyable, but there’s a clear limitation: brightness. The screen peaks at 850 nits in high brightness mode, which is fine indoors but less convincing outdoors. Under harsh sunlight, you’ll often find yourself angling the phone or shielding it with your hand just to make out what’s on the display. This isn’t unusual for a budget LCD panel, but it does limit the experience when you’re outdoors.
There’s no HDR support and you’re capped at 1080p playback on streaming apps. In 2025, that feels like a compromise, especially since some rivals in this price bracket are now offering budget AMOLEDs with better contrast and higher peak brightness.
Poco M7 Plus Cameras: Nothing Surprising, Nothing Awful
On the back, the M7 Plus comes with a 50MP primary sensor paired with a depth sensor. The front houses an 8MP selfie shooter. And if you’re expecting anything beyond “it’s fine,” you’ll be disappointed.
Daytime shots are decent. There’s enough detail and colors don’t look completely washed out. But low light photography is where the cracks start to show. Images soften up quickly, shadows eat into details, and you’re left with photos that feel passable but uninspiring. The night mode helps, but only slightly—it can’t compensate for the limitations of the hardware.
Selfies are usable for Instagram stories and video calls. Skin tones are sometimes off, but you can tweak them with a filter and move on. 1080p 30fps video recording is serviceable too, though don’t expect smooth stabilization.
This isn’t a phone you buy for its camera system. It’s good enough for casual shots, but if photography matters to you, there are better options even at this price.
Poco M7 Plus Performance: Reliable Day to Day, Not a Gaming Beast
Powering the Poco M7 Plus is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6s Gen 3, paired with either 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. Now, 128GB feels a little cramped in 2025—especially once you start downloading a couple of big games, shooting 50MP photos, and caching videos on streaming apps. Poco should have offered a higher-storage variant out of the box.
The silver lining is that you do get expandable storage up to 1TB via microSD. It’s not as fast as native UFS storage, but for photos, music, and offline files, it’s perfectly fine and makes the base 128GB feel less restrictive.
Day-to-day use is smooth. Social media apps, browsing, messaging, and even light multitasking work without hiccups. Gaming is a mixed bag. Casual titles like Subway Surfers or Clash of Clans run just fine. Heavier titles like BGMI or Call of Duty Mobile are playable, but you’ll notice frame drops after extended sessions. The phone warms up, and performance throttling kicks in, which isn’t unexpected from a budget chip.
This is a processor built for efficiency and consistency, not sustained high-end performance. And for most people buying a phone under ₹15,000, that’s enough.
Poco M7 Plus Software: HyperOS
The Poco M7 Plus ships with Xiaomi’s HyperOS, built on Android 15. Poco is promising two major Android updates.
This means you can expect support up to Android 17 and four years of security patches. For a budget phone, that’s actually a respectable commitment.
HyperOS itself is feature-packed. You get plenty of customization options, built-in security tools like App Lock for privacy, and a dedicated Security app that clears junk files, scans for malware, and frees up memory to keep things running smoothly.
There’s also Google Gemini baked right into the OS, which is handy if you’re already leaning into AI-powered assistance.
The downside is Bloatware. Out of the box, the M7 Plus comes loaded with pre-installed apps you didn’t ask for, plus the usual mix of ads and spammy notifications that can make the experience frustrating.
Most of this can be disabled with a little effort, but it does take away from what is otherwise a clean and fast interface.
Poco M7 Plus Battery: The Star of the Show
If there’s one reason to pick up the Poco M7 Plus, it’s the battery. Poco somehow managed to squeeze a 7,000mAh cell into this slim body using silicon-carbon tech, and it delivers exactly what you’d expect: incredible endurance.
I routinely ended days with over 40 percent charge still left. With lighter use, this can stretch to two full days without charging. For heavy users, you’ll still get through a day comfortably without the constant low-battery anxiety that many midrange phones bring.
Charging is capped at 33W, which feels slow by today’s standards. A full charge takes around an hour and a half. It’s not terrible, but considering competitors like Vivo and Oppo are pushing faster charging in similar price brackets, the M7 Plus feels behind. One bonus, though, is 18W reverse charging—you can use it to juice up another phone or accessory in a pinch.
Poco M7 Plus Extras: The Small Things That Matter
The Poco M7 Plus includes a handful of features that make daily life easier:
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner that’s fast and consistent.
- IR blaster for controlling TVs and ACs—still a uniquely Xiaomi ecosystem perk.
- IP64 rating which protects against dust and splashes.
- Single speaker that’s loud enough for YouTube, though clarity isn’t amazing. Poco’s “200 percent volume mode” boosts output further, but it starts distorting at max.
These aren’t headline features, but they add up to make the phone feel more practical.
Poco M7 Plus Verdict: A Safe Play, Wrapped in Bold Packaging
After a week with the Poco M7 Plus, I can say this: it’s a solid budget phone. It nails the essentials—battery life, smooth performance for everyday use, a big display, and a design that stands out. It doesn’t try to reinvent anything, and maybe that’s fine.
The cameras are average, the charging speed feels behind the curve, and the display struggles outdoors. But for the price, none of these are deal breakers. The phone feels dependable, and that’s worth a lot in this segment.
