Poco C85x review: At Rs 10,999, it punches above its weight

Pros:

• Big and bright display

• Long lasting battery

• Design

Cons:

• Heavy build

• Occasional lags

• Multitasking

Poco C85x Price: Rs 10,999

Rating: 3.8/5

In a market where affordability often comes with compromise, smartphones like the Poco C85x attempt to rewrite the rules of the game. Big displays, premium designs, and even bigger batteries are no longer exclusive to premium devices.

The Poco C85x features a 6.9-inch display, a 6,300mAh battery and Android 16 out of the box. But does packing all of this into a sub-Rs 11,000 smartphone truly deliver a satisfying experience, or does the reality fall short once you move beyond the spec sheet?

I spent over a week with the Poco C85x to find out whether this budget-friendly contender is built to impress, or merely designed to look the part.

More from Reviews

Design and display

The design is often the first thing many of us notice in any device, and the Poco C85x makes a strong first impression.

At Rs 10,999, the phone delivers a surprisingly premium aesthetic. I reviewed the Emerald Green variant, and its matte-finish rear panel feels well above its segment. The large ‘POCO’ branding, prominently embossed on the glossy polycarbonate back, adds a bold and distinctive touch. The rear panel also houses a large vertical pill-shaped camera island.

While the camera module may remind you of the design language seen on recent iPhones, the rest of the device retains its own identity. The silver border around the camera island, which mirrors the phone’s edges, adds a refined finish. Overall, it is evident that Poco has leaned heavily into a “design to impress” approach here.

Additionally, it does come with an IP52 rating, offering some resistance against splashes and dust. However, the phone feels heavy in hand, owing to its 210g weight and 8.15mm thickness.

Personally, as someone who prefers compact phones, the large profile does not excite me much.

On the front, the Poco C85x sports a huge 6.9-inch HD+ IPS LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The screen is immersive, and the large size makes reading, gaming, and binge-watching genuinely enjoyable. The colours are also up to the mark, especially indoors.

Under direct sunlight, reading text remains manageable, but watching YouTube videos becomes slightly difficult.

Using the phone one-handed is a another challenge. I often found myself struggling to reach across the screen while texting. This could be down to my smaller hands, but navigating the display with one hand is certainly not effortless.

Overall, the combination of design and display works very well for the Poco C85x, especially at this price.

Performance

Under the hood, the Poco C85x is powered by the Unisoc T8300, a 6nm octa-core chipset. After using the phone for over a week, I found that it handles everyday tasks reasonably well.

Scrolling Instagram, watching YouTube videos, texting on WhatsApp, and playing basic games all work without major hiccups.

That said, I did notice occasional lags even during routine usage. The phone struggles when switching quickly between apps. For instance, if I was texting on WhatsApp and tried jumping into a game, the phone took a few seconds to open it.

Multitasking is clearly not its strength. The device slows down when asked to handle multiple tasks at once, and requires a moment to catch up.

However, if you stick to one task at a time, the performance is manageable, which is what you would expect from a sub-Rs 11,000 smartphone.

To put its performance into numbers, we put the device through benchmark tests. On Geekbench, the Poco C85x scored 891 on single core and 1906 on multi core.

The Poco C85x runs Android 16 with Xiaomi’s HyperOS on top. The interface offers solid customisation options, including a theme store, font changes, icon tweaks, lock screen customisation, an always-on display, and a quick settings panel. Features like Circle to Search, auto call recording, FM radio, Game Turbo mode, and the side toolbox add practical value.

However, the software experience is not without its issues. Bloatware is quite noticeable, with several pre-installed apps and games such as Block Puzzle, Bubble Shooter, Carrom Master, and Dust Settle, along with apps like Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, Mi Store, and the Indus App Store. While many can be removed, it does take effort.

Additionally, the App Finder feature that appears in the app drawer can feel intrusive, frequently surfacing suggested apps that often seem ad-driven, making the interface feel cluttered.

Battery

If performance feels average, the battery is where the Poco C85x truly shines. The phone packs a massive 6,300mAh battery. Once fully charged, it comfortably lasts an entire day, often leaving enough charge for late-night scrolling.

The Poco C85x supports a Type-C charging port

During testing, I watched a two-and-a-half-hour YouTube video, and the battery dropped from 48 per cent to 29 per cent, which is quite impressive.

The device supports 15W wired charging, with the charger included in the box, along with 7.5W reverse wired charging. However, charging speeds are slow. A full charge from near zero takes around 2 hours, which may test your patience.

Camera

The Poco C85x features a 32-megapixel AI primary rear camera, accompanied by a secondary auxiliary lens. On the front, there is an 8-megapixel camera housed within a waterdrop notch.

Camera modes include Night Mode, Ultra HD, Portrait, Time Lapse, HDR, and up to 6x digital zoom, extendable to 10x.

In daylight, the phone captures decent images. While they are not exceptionally sharp, they are visually pleasing. Colours tend to be slightly oversaturated, with greens appearing greener and yellows more vivid than natural. That said, the photos are social media-ready and often do not require additional filters.

Portrait performance is surprisingly good for this segment. The phone handles edge detection well and produces pleasing results.

On the downside, the selfie camera underperforms. Images often appear hazy, with noticeable grain.

Here are a few more samples clicked by the Poco C85x:

Poco C85x review: Should you buy?

The Poco C85x is not trying to be perfect, and that is precisely why it works.

For its price, it delivers where it matters most for a budget buyer: a large, immersive display, an eye-catching design, and a battery that simply refuses to quit. These are the kind of features that elevate everyday usage, especially for those who consume a lot of content on their phones.

Of course, compromises exist. Performance can feel inconsistent, multitasking is limited, and the software experience could be cleaner. The cameras, too, are a mixed bag.

Yet, when you weigh everything against its Rs 10,999 price tag, the Poco C85x makes a compelling case for itself. If your priorities lean towards screen size, battery life, and design over raw performance, this is an easy recommendation in the entry-level segment.