The Poco F8 Pro review: Flagship thrills without the premium

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The Poco F8 Ultra is the sub-brand’s new flagship-class entry, sporting Qualcomm’s best and brightest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, a huge 6.9-inch display, and 2.1-channel Bose-tuned audio, with a built in subwoofer – but it didn’t launch alone.

Arriving alongside it, the Poco F8 Pro also embodies the mark’s penchant for affordable power, but in a more compact form and with an even lower price tag.

It’s only been eight months since the Poco F7 series dropped, so you’d hope this next generation had some noteworthy upgrades to shout about. While it’s clear that the Ultra takes the cake – with Poco framing the phone as its first true all-round flagship – the F8 Pro builds more directly on the foundation of the Poco F7 Ultra. It features the same chip, but matches it with new display tech, better audio, improved cameras, faster charging and Xiaomi’s latest HyperOS user experience.

Design & Build

• Glass-backed design
• 199 grams
• IP68 rated

Given how often copycats crop up in the mobile space, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Poco saw the iPhone 17 Pro‘s broad new camera plateau and figured that was the element to crib to define the look of the F8 series. But wind the clock back further and you’ll see that it’s essentially the other way around.

Both the iPhone and the F8 Pro follow in the footsteps of last year’s Poco F6 Pro. Although this model has a more squared-off form, it otherwise looks a lot like its 2025 successor.

The F8 Pro features more curves than the F6 Pro, especially the corners of its frame and camera island, all of which sport matching radii for a balanced, premium look. The edges of that straight-sided aluminium frame also feature some generous rounding, meaning it’s plenty comfortable in the hand, even if that makes it look thick (it’s still only 8mm) in this year of super-slim smartphones.

It’s one of the most grown-up looking and refined of the brand’s phones I’ve handled

While it isn’t as exciting to look at as some previous Poco entries, it’s one of the most grown-up looking and refined of the brand’s phones I’ve handled. For once, there’s no signature bright yellow colourway, but instead three muted tones, in black, Titanium Silver (pictured) and (pale) blue.

What also helps give the phone a premium feel is its milled glass back which, despite a pleasing surface contrast of diffuse and reflective finishes, is a single piece, giving it a cleaner look. It’s a first for the brand.

The mirror-like portion surrounding the camera has the potential to help frame up rear-sensor selfies too, but it smudges easily. It’s also the only section of the phone’s back that’s exposed when you slap on the included dark grey TPU case.

Tactile metal buttons are easily accessible along the phone’s right side, and underneath lies the SIM slot. But this model and the F8 Ultra both embrace a long-requested Poco feature in the form of eSIM support. IP68 water and dust resistance carries over from the F7 series as well.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.59in 120Hz Poco HyperRGB Display
• Protected by Gorilla Glass 7i
• Stereo speakers w/ Bose-tuned audio

At 6.9-inches, the Poco F7 Ultra boasts one of the largest-ever displays on a Xiaomi phone. By comparison, the F8 Pro’s 6.59-inch panel is far more compact and pocketable, even if that is at the expense of immersion.

Not only is it set within one of the the thinnest bezels we’ve ever seen on a Poco phone (again, aiding the phone’s premium feel), but the F8 series debuts the company’s new HyperRGB Display tech.

The clarity and sharpness of the Poco F7 Ultra’s screen and that of the the Galaxy S25 Ultra were comparable

It apparently uses an unconventional sub-pixel structure, paired to a new M10 material (which the company states has 11.4% improved luminance efficiency), to offer better clarity than a conventional PenTile display, while using 22.3% less power than the screens found on the F7 line.

In real-world terms, the company claims that its tech delivers the clarity of a 2K OLED screen, despite only using a 1.5K panel, and in side-by-side comparisons with the sharpest phone I had to hand – the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (498ppi versus the Pro’s 419ppi) – I’d have to agree.

Aside from a visible difference in pixel structure under magnification, the clarity and sharpness of the Poco F7 Ultra’s screen and that of the the Galaxy S25 Ultra were comparable. Under scrutiny, font serifs look just as sharp, with the panel’s wider contrast, colour and brightness proving excellent as well.

The F8 Pro’s panel supports 12-bit colour depth and a peak brightness output of 3500nits (with a panel-wide peak of 2000nits), meaning it’s a great choice for enjoying HDR content. The ability to drop down to just 1-nit and ‘all-day’ DC dimming help with eye comfort in low light scenarios, paired with some assistive viewing features in the phone’s settings, such as Reading Mode.

As for touch response (how fast the screen reacts to your touch inputs), the phone defaults to 480Hz most of the time, but has a dedicated 2560Hz boosted option for lightning-fast, precision response when gaming (via the OS’s Game Turbo overlay).

Practically speaking, I never ran into tangible input lag or frame drops swiping around the general UI, while Poco’s gaming optimisations here led to a rare winning streak when I settled into successive rounds of Call of Duty: Mobile.

The only real tell-tale sign that the F8 Pro isn’t using a true flagship-class display is in its refresh rate. While the phone’s panel tops out at a ProMotion-rivalling 120Hz, Poco hasn’t used an LTPO panel, meaning the phone lacks a true dynamic refresh rate, and isn’t as power efficient as an otherwise equivalent panel.

Swiping around the F8 Pro is wonderfully smooth and responsive (the majority of the native UI runs at a peak 120Hz), but when scaling down in certain scenarios, the refresh rate was only able to jump in large increments, bottoming out at 30Hz for experiences like the Always-On Display. Compare that to phones with LTPO panels, which can drop right down to 1Hz and scale power drain far more dynamically as a result.

On the flip side, the move from an optical to an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is another high-end inclusion, and pleasantly instant when pressed, even when the display is off.

As for Poco’s Wet Touch 2.0 algorithm, the Pro handled typing with static droplets on the screen and wet fingers well, but when I tilted the phone more upright and tried to type while a few drops ran down the display, the error rate did increase; suggesting reliable typing and touch input in rain is still beyond the tech.

As for the audio experience, not only does it boast Bose-tuned audio but it supports 2.1-channel output thanks to an integrated subwoofer. That’s something I’ve only previously encountered on a phone by way of an external accessory, with the ROG Phone 7 series’ AeroActive Cooler 7. With the F8 Ultra, the subwoofer is integrated next to the rear camera array. On the F8 Pro, it isn’t there at all.

You do still get proper stereo speakers on the Pro, tuned by the audio experts at Bose, but the phone delivers a pedestrian audio experience compared to its Ultra-branded sibling.

The OnePlus 15 is another recent release that’s touted its stereo speaker abilities, and in side by side comparisons, I’d best describe the output from the Poco as ‘loud and clear’. There’s a degree of control with a Dynamic and a Balanced sound profile to choose between, as well as scene-specific tuning for different scenarios: music, games, movies and clips (eg.TikToks, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts).

Only at the peak of its loudspeaker output does clarity genuinely break down, but – as with almost every phone – lacklustre bass is the most obvious shortcoming.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 12GB RAM and up to 512GB storage
• Supports Xiaomi Offline Communication

A market-defying price/performance balance has always been at the heart of Poco’s strategy.

While the F8 Ultra is one of the most affordable phones running Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, the F8 Pro – especially with Poco’s early-bird pricing in effect (at the time of writing), is a solid value proposition for a phone with the same chip that powers the majority of 2025’s Android flagships.

As it’s such a tried and true piece of silicon at this point, and Poco has paired it with a decent ‘3D triple-layer’ passive cooling system (promising 40% better thermal conductivity than its predecessor), both benchmarking and real-world results are – as expected – excellent. The phone proves itself more than equipped to deliver on demanding apps, multitasking and high-end games for at least the next year or so.

My time testing the display’s frame and response rates also helped evaluate the F8 Pro’s real-world gaming performance. I enjoyed solid, consistent 60fps output with the likes of Zenless Zone Zero and Call of Duty: Mobile, even over extended periods of time.

This was helped by the system’s WildBoost performance mode (also called Ultimate mode), which supports frame stability, scaling and recovery under heavy gameplay loads. The F8 Pro did get warm when gaming, but never to a concerning degree.

Wider system performance is also supported by 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB or 512GB of fast UFS 4.1 storage, up to 12GB of which can be reallocated as additional RAM using the phone’s Memory Extension feature (6GB is allocated out of the box).

Poco F8 Pro benchmarks

While there’s a clear performance gap with the new wave of 8 Elite Gen 5-powered flagships now coming in, the F8 Pro is otherwise just as capable as any recent Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered phone. Benchmarks place it right in line with the likes of the OnePlus 13 (producing slightly weaker single-core CPU scores, but marginally stronger multi-core and graphical scores).

Despite my real-world experiences showing minimal tangible performance degradation during extended gameplay, 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme stress test logged a performance drop of about 45% across 20 minutes of successive runs. In comparison the Galaxy S25 Ultra that’s currently my daily driver scored similarly, with a drop of 43%.

Xiaomi often supports main chips from other manufacturers in its devices with its own silicon, which is the case in the Poco F8 Pro. Inside the F8 Pro, the company’s Surge T1+ Tuner promises 42% better cellular strength, and up to 31% better Bluetooth and Wi-Fi performance.

Both members of the F8 series also join Xiaomi’s Offline Communication network (which internationally only includes the Xiaomi 15T and 15T Pro, at the time of writing). The F8 Pro is rated to work at a range of up to one kilometre (although the company says it managed to get it working at closer to 1.5km).

Cameras

• 50Mp main, 8Mp ultrawide and 50Mp 2.5x telephoto sensors
• 20Mp selfie camera
• First Pro entry in Poco F series w/ optical telephoto zoom

The F8 Pro sports a similar array to the Poco F7 Pro: 50Mp Light Fusion 800 main, 8Mp 120º ultrawide, and 20Mp front-facing sensors. For the first time on a Poco F Pro, these are supplemented with a telephoto sensor with optical zoom: a modest 2.5x 50Mp snapper (with a 5x lossless crop) in this case.

Camera performance is often lacking with Poco’s phones and here, it’s probably the most tangible set of downgrades from the F8 Ultra. Poco’s top dog features a 32Mp front facer (as on the F7 Ultra), along with a trio of 50Mp rear snappers. The lead of these boasts a larger 1/1.31in sensor, compared to the F8 Pro’s 1/1.55in main.

In natural light, the phone’s main snapper is more than adequate for sharing to social media, but it seems to rely too heavily on post-processing, especially in terms of pushing colour vibrancy for the punchier elements in a scene. I found myself using the 2x crop on the main sensor more than I usually would with other phones, as a result of the evident softness towards the edge of frame when shooting at 1x.

I like that Xiaomi’s camera science tends to let shadows be shadows (unlike, say, Google’s), but on more affordable phones like this, that’s also where you see the limits of the phone’s dynamic range. Low light performance only exacerbates existing shortcomings, with post-processing working overtime to retain detail and accurate colours when there isn’t enough ambient light, with the phone also resorting to extending the shutter in brighter conditions.

There’s also an obvious inconsistency in contrast, colour and dynamic range between the phone’s three rear sensors. The ultrawide is the weakest of the three, and discrepancies become more apparent when shooting video (the jump when switching between lenses while recording is also particularly jarring on this phone).

For all its faults, the F8 Pro camera system is fine for everyday snapping

Super Macro is seemingly broken, requiring a 50cm minimum focus distance that means you’re effectively taking a wide shot. The main sensor actually lets you get much closer without switching out of the default Photo mode, serving up far better results.

However, for all its faults, the F8 Pro camera system is fine for everyday snapping. I like the quality of the artificial bokeh in Portrait Mode, and the fact you can dial it up and down both before and after capture. There’s also a pleasing amount of centre-frame detail in most shots; even from that 20Mp front-facer, which is otherwise middling at best.

Video capture and up to 4K 60fps (or 8K 30fps) isn’t too bad either, with good stability and even the option of manual control.

Battery Life & Charging

• 6210mAh battery
• 100W wired charging
• No power adapter in the box

There’s a marginally larger battery with this generation of Pro, boasting a sizeable 6210mAh cell (up from 6000mAh on the F7 Pro), paired with faster 100W ‘HyperCharge’ wired charging (up from 90W). Both are welcome upgrades that result in the same promised fast-charge to 100% in 37 minutes.

Poco doesn’t include a charger in-box, but as I had an official 120W Xiaomi charger to hand, I put its claims to the test. After flipping on Top Speed charging in the battery settings menu, the fastest I was able to recharge the F8 Pro was 45 minutes which, while short of Poco’s promised figure, is still blisteringly fast. That’s especially so when compared to plenty of pricier phones with smaller batteries.

This is the sort of phone you don’t need to worry about plugging in at night

Fast charging generates a fair amount of heat and I assume that’s what caused my unit to slow a little. Nonetheless, three-quarters full after just 30 minutes mean this is the sort of phone you don’t need to worry about plugging in at night – provided you’re willing to pay extra for a top-speed power adapter (Xiaomi’s 120W charger costs £59.99 from Amazon in the UK).

A phone with a battery breaking 6000mAh used to be the preserve of gaming phones, but over the last twelve months, we’ve seen more general high-profile phones with comparatively large cells. While the latest silicon-carbon tech seems only to be found on the F8 Ultra, the Pro’s longevity is still respectable.

A score of 16 hours 24 minutes in our PC Mark Battery 3.0 test is at the upper end of the scale, based on other benchmarked results, but as with almost every Xiaomi phone we review, real-world performance is more pedestrian, with screen time of around 9.75 hours. That still means the Poco F8 Pro can be a two-day phone with careful use, but it doesn’t last as long as similarly-specced phones with similarly sized batteries.

Check out our rundown of the best battery life phones for alternatives.

Software & AI

• HyperOS 3 atop Android 16 at launch
• Some bloat and in-app ads
• 4 years OS + 6 years security update support

While various manufacturers’ flavours of Android poach features from iOS on a fairly regular basis (and Apple sometimes poaches back), Poco’s HyperOS does little to hide the “inspiration” behind some of its aesthetic and functional UI choices. The F8 Pro is among the first of the company’s phones to run the latest HyperOS 3.0 out the box (on top of Android 16).

Beyond behind-the-scenes improvements and more cinematic lock screens, the most obvious addition to version 3.0 is a little something called ‘HyperIsland’. Just as OnePlus and Oppo added the Live Alerts capsule to OxygenOS 15, Honor has the Magic Capsule and Samsung’s latest ‘Now’-branded additions include a familiar-looking Live Notifications capsule, HyperIsland is Xiaomi’s/Poco’s variation on iOS’ Dynamic Island.

Whether playing music, running a timer or recording a voice memo, HyperIsland serves up an active notification around the F8 Pro’s front camera that expands with a tap, offering quick access to key controls or information, as well as a shortcut to the full app experience with an additional tap if desired.

I was rightly worried about Xiaomi’s/Poco’s penchant for baking ads into its software experience

HyperIsland’s implementation does score points for also letting you swipe between these active notifications, if multiple actions are running concurrently. This makes interacting with them all quick and easy, without pulling you out of whatever you’re doing.

Beyond this, those who’ve used any MIUI or HyperOS-powered phone from the past few years will likely find the rest of the experience familiar. There’s a lot of control over the look and feel of the user experience, which makes it both powerful and tricky to master. There’s also a tendency to inexplicably obscure the odd native Android feature, with offerings like Extra Dim needlessly hidden, requiring third-party apps to become easily accessible again.

I was rightly worried about Xiaomi’s/Poco’s penchant for baking ads into its software experience. Unlike its more premium sibling, beyond the various bits of first- and third-party bloat that comes preloaded on the F8 Pro (OneDrive, Booking.com, Temu and a litany of ad-addled puzzle games), the company’s App Mall app store is also constantly serving notifications, pushing you to download apps you didn’t search or ask for.

Thankfully, there’s nothing stopping you disabling App Mall’s notifications, but the prevalence of baked-in ads on a device that Poco markets as one of its latest premium entries sours the experience.

The latest flavour of Google’s Gemini Live with Camera Share comes as part of the experience on the Pro.

Poco’s promise of four generations of OS and six years of security updates across the F8 Pro’s lifespan is adequate, but lags behind market leaders like Apple, Google and Samsung – all of which promise 6 to 7 years of both for most of their devices – upping the value-for-money factor in every instance.

Price & Availability

Both the Poco F8 Pro and Poco F8 Ultra made their debut at a special event in Bali on November 26, and went on sale right afterwards.

For the package on offer, Poco’s well-established Early Bird pricing renders the Poco F8 Pro something of a steal if you bought on or before December 9, 2025, with the phone starting from just £399 / €519. After that initial reduction, prices rise to £549 / €649 / $579 for the base 256GB model, and £599 / €699 / $629 for the 512GB variant. It’s still respectable, considering what else is out there at those same price points.

Xiaomi (and by extension Poco) have been very generous with their purchase offers of late, meaning those picking up an F8 Pro right now don’t just get the phone, but can benefit from a suite of bonuses.

These include an additional money-off voucher (worth £50), a trade-in discount of a further £50 (when buying a Pro in the UK), double Mi Points, three months of Spotify Premium, six months of a Google One plan (with 100GB of cloud storage), three months of YouTube Premium, and one free screen replacement within the first six months after purchase. Like I said, generous.

It’s a solid foil to the likes of the iPhone 16e and the Google Pixel 10, with more power, functionality, and better battery and charging chops. The Pixel wins out on camera performance, while both serve up longer software support than the Poco, but it’s otherwise a well-priced alternative to such premium mid-rangers.

If you want to buy the phone outright, you can pick it up directly from Mi.com as well as retailers like Amazon from £549, and you could also pair it with a new SIM-only deal.

Should you buy the Poco F8 Pro?

A clean, grown-up design, a solid audiovisual experience, decent battery life and some of the fastest charging on the market, all in a relatively compact package. Where the Ultra surpasses the expectations the brand has created, the Poco F8 Pro merely meets them and, for the price, that’s OK.

If you’re the kind of person who upgrades your phone every two to three years, and you’re after a capable all-rounder that doesn’t excel in any one key area, the F8 Pro is an inoffensive option that’ll serve you well. That’s provided you can get to grips with the company’s software, and aren’t going to be bothered by the baked-in ads you’ll run into from time to time.

Specs

• HyperOS 3.0 atop Android 16
• 6.59-inch 120Hz, 19.5:9, 1156 x 2510, HyperRGB LTPS OLED
• Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 12GB RAM (LPDDR5X)
• 256GB or 512GB storage (UFS 4.1)
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp 1/1.55-inch ƒ/1.88 Light Fusion 800 main sensor w/ OIS
  • 8Mp ƒ/2.2 15mm 120º ultra-wide
  • 50Mp ƒ/2.2 60mm 2.5x telephoto
  • 20Mp selfie camera
• Up to 8K @ 30fps video recording
• Stereo speakers w/ Bose-tuned audio
• Dual-SIM (including eSIM)
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 6210mAh battery
• 100W HyperCharge wired charging
• 157.47 x 75.25 x 8mm
• IP68 certified
• 199 grams
• Colours: Titanium Silver, black, blue