POCO continues to make the best budget phones, and the manufacturer is doing things a little differently with its latest launch. The X7 and X7 Pro are now available globally, and the latter model is particularly interesting, as POCO teamed up with Marvel to release 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 used to do a terrific job rolling out unique designs in the past with the likes of the OnePlus 5T Star Wars, OnePlus 6 Avengers, OnePlus 6T and 7T Pro McLaren models, and the Nord 2 Pac-Man variant. It's exciting to see POCO get in on the action with the X7 Pro, and what's notable here is that the brand is doing so on a budget phone, making the device much more accessible to a wider audience.
That said, POCO isn't launching the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition in India, its biggest consumer market — the phone is instead debuting in select Asian countries. It is available in a single 12GB/512GB model, and costs $399. The base model of the X7 Pro, meanwhile, costs $299, with the 512GB model selling at $369, so you're basically paying $30 additionally for the Iron Man Edition.
With that out of the way, let's talk about the design. POCO clearly paid a lot of attention to small details, with the SIM card ejector in the box styled to look like an Arc Reactor.
The packaging itself is done really well, and it has a "mechanical lift structure" that's meant to mimic the feel of "donning Stark's armor," and you get a cutout highlighting blueprints of Iron Man's suit. There's a case included in the box that does a good job reinforcing the device while simultaneously showing off that design at the back.
Coming to the phone itself, the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition has a distinctive back design with red and gold hues, with the Iron Man helmet prominently highlighted. The helmet is housed within a stylized Arc Reactor, and the rest of the back has a "3D relief enhanced with platinum detailing" that does a great job accentuating the design.
POCO used a tiered system to create a sense of dimension to the design at the back, and the effect is rather interesting. "Thanks to the sophisticated layout of the tiered platinum serrations inside, the shining finish has been perfected for an even brighter, more sparkling look, creating a sense of dimensionality that mirrors the detailed craftsmanship of Stark's engineering. While using a combination of matte and gloss finishes with a sparkling sand texture, the helmet reflects a subtle brilliance under light, while the Arc Reactor's intricate patterns appear both powerful and precise."
While my immediate reaction after taking the device out of the box was that it looked a little tacky, I don't feel the same after using the phone for a week. POCO did a great job with the overall aesthetic of the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition, and the red accents around the cameras at the back and the power button distinguish the design quite a bit. You also get the Avengers logo at the bottom with the POCO logo located at the top, and both of these are decked out in gold, adding a nice bit of contrast.
The sides have a boxier design, but there are subtle curves, and I didn't see any issues with usability. That's mostly down to the matte texture on the sides, which just makes it easier to hold and use the device. Other niceties include custom backgrounds and an icon pack that has red borders, which is preinstalled. While I like the backgrounds, the icon pack is too distracting, and thankfully, you can easily switch it out.
The rest of the hardware is identical to the X7 Pro. You get a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh and 1920Hz DC dimming, and it is backed by Corning's Gorilla Glass 7i.
| Category | POCO 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 (score) | 1868 | 2845 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme (FPS) | 11.19 | 17.035 |
The phone is powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 8400 Ultra, and you get 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The phone doesn't run demanding games at the highest setting, but it is decent enough in its category, and I didn't see many issues in this area. I'll go into much more detail in my review, but as a teaser, I'm including synthetic testing scores above.
Coming to the cameras, there's a 50MP Sony IMX882 that serves as the main shooter, and it's joined by an 8MP wide-angle, with POCO sensibly choosing to limit the device to two good sensors. There's a 6000mAh battery with 90W charging, and interestingly enough, the Indian model of the X7 Pro gets a bigger 6500mAh battery. The Iron Man Edition is based on the global variant, so it has a 6000mAh battery. Rounding out the hardware, you get IP68 ingress protection, NFC, IR blaster, and a decent vibration motor.
On the software side of things, the phone runs Android 15 out of the box, which gives it a distinct edge over the Redmi Note 14 Pro+, a device that costs $150 more.
Overall, I really like what POCO did with the X7 Pro Iron Man Edition. The brand 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 would have liked to see the device in India, but outside of that, I don't really have anything to fault with the device — it is one of the best limited-edition models I used recently.
