POCO continues to make the best budget phones, and with its latest release, the manufacturer is doing things a little differently. The X7 and X7 Pro are now available globally, and the latest model is especially interesting as POCO has teamed up with Marvel to launch an exclusive variant of the device, dubbed the POCO X7 Pro Iron Man Edition.
I’m a big fan of these limited edition models and OnePlus has done an amazing job in the past of releasing unique designs with models like OnePlus 5T Star Wars, OnePlus 6 AvengersOnePlus 6T and 7T Pro McLaren models and North 2 Pac-Man option. It’s great to see POCO getting in on the action with the X7 Pro and what’s notable is that the brand is doing it on a budget phone, making the device much more accessible to a wider audience.
However, POCO is not launching the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition in India, its largest consumer market – instead, the phone will debut in select Asian countries. It’s available in a single 12GB/512GB model priced at $399. Meanwhile, the base model X7 Pro costs $299, and the 512GB model sells for $369, so you’re essentially paying $30 extra for the Iron Man Edition.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about design. POCO has clearly paid a lot of attention to small details: the SIM card ejector in the box is designed as an arc reactor.
The packaging itself is very well done and has a “mechanical lift design” meant to emulate the feeling of “putting on the Stark armor” and you get a cutout highlighting the plans for the Iron Man suit. The package comes with a case that does a good job of strengthening the device while also showing off the design on the back.
As for the phone itself, the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition features a distinctive red and gold back design with Iron Man’s helmet prominently featured on it. The helmet is housed in a stylized arc reactor, and the rest of the back has a “3D relief enhanced with platinum detailing” that perfectly highlights the design.
POCO used a layered system to create a sense of volume in the design at the back, and the effect is quite interesting. “Thanks to the exquisite arrangement of multi-tiered platinum prongs within, the luminous finish is made even more vibrant and sparkling, creating a sense of dimensionality that reflects the detailed craftsmanship of Stark’s engineers. Using a combination of matte and glossy colors, the texture of the sand is sparkling, the helmet reflects a subtle shine under the light, and the intricate patterns of the Arc Reactor feel both powerful and precise.”
While my first reaction upon taking the device out of the box was that it looked a little tacky, after a week of using the phone I don’t feel the same. POCO has done a great job with the overall aesthetics of the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition, and the red accents around the rear cameras and power button really make the design stand out. You also get the Avengers logo at the bottom and the POCO logo placed at the top, both of which are adorned in gold which adds a nice contrast.
The sides have a more square design, but there are slight curves and I didn’t notice any usability issues. This is mainly due to the matte texture on the sides, which makes the device easier to hold and use. Other niceties include customizable backgrounds and a pre-installed icon pack with red borders. While I like the backgrounds, the icon pack is too distracting and thankfully can be easily turned off.
The rest of the hardware is identical to the X7 Pro. You get a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1920Hz DC dimming and Corning Gorilla Glass 7i.
| Category | POKO X7 Pro | OnePlus Nord 4 |
|---|---|---|
| PCMark Work 3.0 (overall) | 12575 | 13396 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (web browsing) | 11853 | 12604 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (video editing) | 5450 | 7233 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (Writing) | 18952 | 13304 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (photo editing) | 11180 | 20533 |
| Geekbench 6 (single core) | 1573 | 1000 |
| Geekbench 6 (multi-core) | 5580 | 3849 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme (rating) | 1868 | 2845 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme (FPS) | 11.19 | 17.035 |
The phone is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 8400 Ultra processor and you get 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 internal storage. The phone doesn’t run demanding games at maximum settings, but it’s decent enough for its category and I didn’t notice any major problems in this area. I’ll go into more detail in my review, but as a teaser I’m including the synthetic testing results above.
In terms of cameras, there is a 50MP Sony IMX882 that serves as the main camera and is joined by an 8MP wide-angle camera, with POCO smartly choosing to limit the device to two good sensors. There is a 6000mAh battery with 90W charging and interestingly, the Indian X7 Pro model comes with a 6500mAh battery. Iron Man Edition is based on the global variant and has a 6000 mAh battery. To top it all off, you get IP68 protection, NFC, an IR blaster, and a decent vibration motor.
As for the software, the phone works Android 15 out of the box, which gives it a clear advantage over Redmi Note 14 Pro+a device that costs $150 more.
Overall, I really like what POCO has done with the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition. The brand has put a lot of thought into the design of the phone as well as the packaging, and it doesn’t have an absurd premium over the standard X7 Pro. I’d love to see this device in India, but other than that I have no complaints about it – it’s one of the best limited edition models I’ve used lately.