After making a statement in the flagship killer and budget mid-range segment with the F2 Pro and X3 NFC, POCO is set to disrupt the budget segment with the M3. With its competitive specs-to-price ratio, the M3 is set to go against vivo’s Y20i and Realme’s C15. How do they stack up against one another?

Design

Being budget phones, they all come with a polycarbonate frame and back panel. However, they approach things differently with the back panel: the Y20i has a conventional glossy finish with a rectangle camera module housing two cameras, while the C15 goes for a geometric finish with a square camera module housing four cameras and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

The M3, on the other hand, takes things up a notch with its leather-like finish and a large rectangle bump that covers the upper part of the phone. That bump is home to three rear cameras, LED flash, and statement POCO branding. Unlike the C15, both the Y20i and M3 employ a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

 

Display

All three phones have roughly the same display size at 6.5-inches, though the POCO M3 takes things up a notch by offering a Full HD+ resolution vs the HD+ resolution with the C15 and Y20i. If that’s not enough, the M3 has an added bonus of having stereo speakers and Widevine L1 for those Netflix binging sessions.

While all three deliver good colors, the Y20i has a better panel especially for outdoor use.

 

Camera

While the Realme C15 technically wins this part with its quad-rear camera setup, we all know that it is not the number of cameras that matter all of the time. While the Y20i and Realme C15 settle for a 13-megapixel main camera, the POCO M3 adds better value for money with its 48-megapixel f/1.8 main camera.

In terms of versatility, the C15 has the advantage of having an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, which is useful if you want to capture landscapes or prefer a wider FOV.

When it comes to selfies, they are on equal ground as all three phones come with an 8-megapixel snapper.

 

Internals

While all three phones do offer a variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, the M3 is the runaway winner here with its use of a Snapdragon 662 processor. Being a variation of the more popular Snapdragon 665, the M3’s processor offers vastly better performance compared to the Y20i’s Snapdragon 460 and C15’s Helio G35 processor.

This is evident with GeekBench 5, where the M3’s Snapdragon 662 leads over the C15’s Helio G35 and Y20i’s Snapdragon 460 in both single core and multi-core.

As for variants, the M3 also has a variant with double the internal storage, while the C15 has a more affordable variant with less RAM.

 

Battery

Both the M3 and C15 win in this part, as both phones come with a large 6000mAh battery with 18w USB-C wired charging. The Y20i does have a generous 5000mAh battery, but its dated 10w MicroUSB charging makes it lag behind the competition.

As for battery life, the M3 is expected to deliver a longer battery life than the C15 with the Snapdragon 662’s 11nm process (vs 12nm on the Helio G35), though we will need to run our usual battery benchmark tests to verify this.

 

Price

The Y20i is priced at Php 7,499 for the 4GB/64GB variant, while the C15 is priced at Php 6,490 for the 3GB/64GB variant and Php 6,990 for the 4GB/64GB variant. The M3 has the same price (Php 6,990) as the C15 for the 4GB/64GB variant, though a Php 1k premium gives you double the internal storage.

While you lose the ultra-wide-angle camera of the C15, the M3 aims to offer better value-for-money with a more powerful processor, stereo speakers, Full HD+ display, and a higher-resolution main rear camera.