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A 50MP 5x telephoto camera lens, 6,500mAh battery and superb Bose-engineered speaker system all pack the value for money into the Poco F8 Ultra.
The Good
- Excellent Bose speakers
- Bright and dynamic display
- Great 5x optical zoom lens
The Not So Good
- Makes choosing an Android phone even harder
Need-to-knows
- Great value camera system
- Excellent speakers
- High-spec display
- Price has crept up
It’s been a very busy year for Android smartphone releases. They have been, to put no finer point on it, relentless.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I do not envy you if you’re currently in the market for a new Android device. They’re all great. They’re all fairly priced. And they all have at least one feature or brand partnership that’s going to grab your attention.
Today, it’s the turn of Xiaomi’s sub-brand, Poco and the new F8 Ultra, which I’ve been testing for the last week or so.
It’s hard not to like Poco. It’s a spunky, youthful, exciting brand, and their devices continue to impress. This one certainly hasn’t left much wanting at all in terms of specs, and there’s an unexpected brand partnership that certainly caught my attention.
At a glance
| Category | Specs |
|---|---|
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3nm), Octa-core (2× up to 4.6GHz + 6× up to 3.6GHz), Adreno GPU, Qualcomm AI Engine |
| Secondary Chipset | VisionBoost D8 (12nm), AI Super Resolution, 1.5K upscaling, gaming optimizations |
| Memory & Storage | 12GB + 256GB / 16GB + 512GB (LPDDR5X + UFS 4.1) |
| Cooling | LiquidCool Technology with 3D Dual-channel Dual-layer IceLoop |
| Display | 6.9″ POCO HyperRGB AMOLED, 2608×1200, 120Hz, 12-bit color, 3500-nit peak |
| Touch | 480Hz touch sampling, 2560Hz instant sampling (Game Turbo) |
| Speakers / Audio | Triple speakers: Dual 1115F + 1620 subwoofer, Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res, Sound by Bose |
| Battery | 6500mAh |
| Charging | 100W wired, 50W wireless, 22.5W reverse charging |
| Main Camera | 50MP Light Fusion 950, 1/1.31″, f/1.67, OIS |
| Telephoto | 50MP periscope, 5x optical, f/3.0, OIS |
| Ultra-wide | 50MP, f/2.4 |
| Front Camera | 32MP |
| Design (Blue) | 163.33 × 77.82 × 8.3mm, 220g |
| Design (Black) | 163.33 × 77.82 × 7.9mm, 218g |
| Build | Aluminum frame, POCO Shield Glass, IP68 |
| Connectivity | Dual SIM / eSIM, 5G SA & NSA, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC |
| OS | Xiaomi HyperOS 3 |
| Extras | Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, HyperIsland UI, HyperAI features |
Specs, pricing, and positioning
The F8 Ultra is one of the many smartphones entering the market to be powered by Snapdragon’s latest mobile silicon, the slightly confusingly-named 8 Elite Gen 5.
There are two RAM/storage variants to choose from – 12GB/256GB and 16GB/512GB, respectively. And for the spec fiends among you, I can confirm that they’re using LPDDR5X RAM with UFS 4.1.
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Powering the F8 Ultra is a 6,500mAh battery that offers 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. Water resistance is IP68 (no water jet-friendly IP69 rating here, I’m afraid), and Wi-Fi 7 comes along for the ride, too.
Those who play a lot of audio through their phone’s speakers will be buoyed by the addition of a three-speaker Bose system, which is tuned by the audio industry stalwart. If you’re wondering why there’s an odd number of speakers, it’s because the third is an independent subwoofer placed brilliantly within the camera housing. I’ll get to what that sounds like later.
Price-wise, the F8 Ultra is relatively punchy, with the 256GB model arriving at £749 and the 512GB edition topping out at £799. Although if you’re fast enough, some very tasty early-bird launch deals in the UK bring the 256GB version down below £500.
Design
The Poco F8 Ultra is very Poco. And by that, I mean it’s simple without feeling cheap and distinctive enough to catch your eye and ask, “what phone is that?”.
Although not billed as an ultra-thin phone, the F8 Ultra is pleasingly thin – and not too much so. They’ve still managed to fit a decent-sized battery in there, and the aluminium alloy frame feels like it could take some beating.
The display is big, fast, and has thin bezels. Because this is 2025, and that is an absolute given. It certainly ‘pops’, though, and ranks among the nicest displays I’ve seen in Android Land.
We’re also firmly in the age of brand collabs for Android smartphones, and it’s not unusual to see a well-known name etched onto the rear casing of a lesser-known mobile telephone (which Poco absolutely is in my neck of the woods).
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This time, it’s the turn of Bose to add their six decades of audio engineering experience to the speaker system on the Poco F8 Ultra. So, let’s start there.
What does the Bose influence sound like?
I don’t regularly listen to music through my phone’s speakers, and I’m certainly not one of those people who will be heard walking down the street doing so. Most of the time, I assume it’s just me who wants to listen to Pink Floyd’s 1994 Earl’s Court performance of Dark Side Of The Moon from start to finish. Again.
However, sometimes, it is handy to throw on some tunes while you’re getting ready in a hotel room, without using headphones, which is something I’ve been doing regularly while staying here in Bali. And, you know what? The Poco F8 Ultra delivers the best audio from its speaker system I’ve ever heard on a smartphone.
This is because there’s a dedicated speaker on the rear casing that is tasked with looking after the lower frequencies. But it’s also because Bose is significantly involved. And Bose knows what it’s doing when it comes to audio.
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Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t earth-shattering audio, but it’s loud, clear, detailed, and rich enough to be a genuine surprise whenever you experience it.
Once again, given Poco’s main audience of youthful types who probably do walk down the road blaring out the latest Drake joint, this is an extremely smart move. It also places Poco in the same realm as Apple when it comes to making small speakers sound very good indeed.
Camera
The Poco F8 Ultra features a triple 50MP camera system. The main camera has a 1/1.31″ sensor with optical image stabilisation, and the telephoto has a 5x optical zoom and up to 20x AI-influenced ‘UltraZoom’ (although it’ll go all the way to 100x if you need it). Lastly, the ultra-wide camera features an f2.4 aperture for maximum light capture.
Having 50MP all around is useful for cropping and anyone who wants to get fruity with their Poco photography, but I’m also a big fan of any smartphone camera system that features a 5x optical zoom.
Images that come straight out of the F8 Ultra are very pleasing to my eye. There’s a degree of over-sharpening going on at times, but that’s pretty customary with smartphone photography these days, and the combination of that, a decent dynamic range, and colours that ‘pop’ do, in fairness, make for some nice eye candy.
I’m lucky enough to be in Bali at the moment, testing out the photographic capabilities of the F8 Ultra, and it has dealt very well with both extreme contrast (thanks to the abundance of bright sunlight) and low-light situations.
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The camera system is also fast and extremely convenient, focal length-wise, thanks to a very usable wide-angle and that 5x optical telephoto (which does a great job, too). I got some usable shots at 10x, as well, but beyond that, we’re into the normal AI-infused range, which works. Sometimes. I’m still not a fan of AI zoom photography on any smartphone, I’m afraid – I’d much rather stick to those optical focal lengths.
Video-wise, the F8 Ultra tops out at 8K/30fps, which is impressive, even if it’s not something I’d ever use, personally. The 4K footage, however, is perfectly usable, and extends to 60fps, if you need it.
Performance, AI, and battery
Under the hood of the F8 Ultra sits the latest Snapdragon chip. According to Pocco, it provides a 20% CPU boost, 23% better graphics performance, and 35% improved power efficiency compared to the previous version.
It’s also capable of 120fps gaming at up to 1.5K resolution thanks to something called VisionBoost D8. Given the youthful audience for the Poco brand, that’s no bad thing at all. That same audience will also presumably be happy to hear that the F8 Ultra features AI Super Resolution, Smart Frame Rate and Game HDR. There’s even WildBoost optimisation, which intends to deliver “smoother frame pricing, and lower heat”.
I don’t do any form of gaming testing, so I’ll have to leave that to those who do, but it’s clear where the focus is for Poco with the F8 Ultra.
The Poco F8 Ultra is running HyperOS 3, which includes HyperAI for writing assistance, device interconnectivity, and AI creativity. Gemini also, obviously, comes along for the ride as the main assistant.
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I said recently that most third-party flavours of Android feel and look largely the same to me, and that’s the case with HyperOS 3, too. It’s fast, smooth, there’s not too much bloatware, and all of the AI stuff is there if you need it (which I rarely do).
The battery, as noted earlier, is as big as it should be, and it’s made from silicon carbon. It lasts a frankly daft amount of time on standby, and even during heavy use in a very hot climate, it sails way past a day of use. Happy days.
Conclusion
Poco wasn’t a smartphone brand that was on my radar until earlier this year, but I’m glad I’ve finally managed to get my hands on their devices.
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The F8 Ultra is another example of a flagship Android device that shuns the flagship pricing you often encounter with devices that run similar specs. The gaming focus is pretty obvious, but so too is the desire to create a smartphone that offers a brilliant camera, excellent performance, and superb battery life.
And if you can get yours at that discounted launch pricing, you’re laughing. Another superb release from Poco.
