Poco F8 Ultra review

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Introduction

The second-generation Poco F-series Ultra continues along the lineup's upward trajectory by enhancing the camera capabilities and adding a few small fixes - on top of the usual yearly chipset upgrades and such. So just how big of a force to be reckoned with is the new Poco F8 Ultra now? Let's try to answer that.

But first, it's always worth pointing out which China-specific Redmi a new Poco actually is. It's not difficult to pinpoint the model - a standout feature on the back quickly reveals that to be the Redmi K90 Pro Max. Xiaomi has worked with US speaker specialists from Bose to come up with a 2.1 speaker system for the Redmi, and that same system now makes it to the Poco F8 Ultra. The rest is mostly the same, with only a few, mostly cosmetic differences here or there. That's no bad thing, really - if anything, we should be happy that a handset of this caliber becomes available globally in one way or another.

Xiaomi Poco F8 Ultra • Xiaomi Redmi K90 Pro Max

The F8 Ultra's ascension towards proper flagship territory is marked by its camera system, first and foremost. The main camera is being treated to a larger sensor (now 1/1.3"), the telephoto is given extra reach (the optical zoom is at 5x now), and the ultrawide has gotten more pixels too. That ultrawide is still missing autofocus and the selfie camera isn't exactly exciting either, but steps are being made in the right direction.

Of course, a mandatory chipset update has taken place and the Poco F8 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 - appropriate for the phone's Ultra moniker and its highest standing among Pocos.

In the year of normalizing big batteries, the 6,500mAh powerpack of the Poco is looking pretty good, if not as good as the Redmi's 1000+mAh bigger battery. The 100W charging doesn't sound half bad either.

The display has gotten a little bigger, at 6.9 inches in diagonal, and maybe a little brighter too. On the other hand, some pixels got lost along the way (it's a 1200p panel vs. the old model's 1440p resolution), but we don't think we'll be missing them.

An interesting denim-like choice of finish on the back is a welcome breath of personality, though maybe some people will still choose to fixate on the camera island's iPhone resemblance regardless of color and texture. Frequent travellers, meanwhile, will appreciate the addition of eSIM capability - it was missing on the previous model.

Xiaomi Poco F8 Ultra specs at a glance:

• Body: 163.3x77.8x7.9mm, 218g; Glass front, aluminum frame; IP68 dust tight and water resistant (immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.90" AMOLED, 68B colors, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 3500 nits (peak), 1200x2608px resolution, 19.56:9 aspect ratio, 416ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3 nm): Octa-core (2x4.6 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L + 6x3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M); Adreno 840.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.1.
• OS/Software: Android 16, HyperOS 3.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.7, 23mm, 1/1.31", 1.2µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/3.0, 115mm, 1/2.76", 0.64µm, PDAF (30cm - ∞), OIS, 5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.4, 18mm, 102˚, 1/2.88", 0.61µm.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 21mm (wide), 1/3.4", 0.61µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240/960fps, 720p@1920fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps.
• Battery: 6500mAh; 100W wired, PD3.0, QC3+, 100W PPS, 50W wireless, 22.5W reverse wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.4, LHDC 5.0, ASHA, MIHC; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers (with Dolby Atmos).

Poco F8 Ultra unboxing

The Poco F8 Ultra comes in a box with typical styling for the brand, the black cardboard accented by splashes of yellow. It's a half-height box, though, signalling the absence of a charger inside - at least in our neck of the woods.

What's still included is a USB-A-to-C cable to get you started, as well as a graphite-colored TPU case - maybe it's not as good-looking as the phone itself, but something is better than nothing when it comes to protection.