The POCO F8 Series is now official, with the brand unveiling the dual flagship devices via a global launch event in Bali, Indonesia.

The new smartphones are available in the POCO F8 Ultra and POCO F8 Pro variants; POCO has already made both variants available in the Philippines, for the following prices:

POCO F8 Ultra — Denim Blue, Black (Lazada exclusive)

• 12GB+256GB: PhP 39,999 (early bird: PhP 34,999)
• 16GB+512GB: PhP 42,999 (early bird: PhP 37,999)

POCO F8 Pro — Titanium Silver, Blue, Black

• 12GB+256GB: PhP 29,999 (early bird: PhP 26,299)
• 16GB+512GB: PhP 31,999 (early bird: PhP 28,299)

The early bird prices above are available for purchases made from November 26 to December 9. Customers can also score limited PhP 500 vouchers for the F8 Pro.

The launch marks POCO’s entry into the premium flagship segment — the brand’s boldest step yet while maintaining its mantra of value through high-performance technology.

During the event, POCO also formally announced its partnership with audio company Bose, bringing Sound by Bose technology to both F8 smartphones.

Ultimate flagship statement

The series headliner, the POCO F8 Ultra defines what a next-generation flagship should be. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and an upgraded VisionBoost D8 chipset.

This dual-chipset architecture unlocks the device’s full performance potential. Users can expect Smart Frame Rate up to 120fps, Super Resolution up to 1.5K, and Game HDR.

Meanwhile, the POCO F8 Pro runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform.

Both phones introduce AI Super Resolution through a new GEX module, specifically optimized for five titles, including Call of Duty: Mobile and Honkai: Star Rail.

Speaking of gaming, WildBoost Optimization also fine-tunes CPU and GPU load distribution for lower power consumption and less heat.

All of these are complemented by LiquidCool Technology which features a 3D dual-channel, dual-layer IceLoop system.

Both F8 series devices run on Xiaomi HyperOS 3 for intelligence and connectivity. Features include Xiaomi HyperIsland, Xiaomi HyperConnect for cross-device interconnectivity, and Xiaomi HyperAI for advanced tools for productivity.

Mobile audio experience redefined

Meanwhile, Bose helped develop a premium triple-speaker acoustic system for the F8 Ultra to enable rich bass, detailed sound, clear vocals, and an immersive soundstage.

On the visuals side, the F8 Ultra debuts the POCO HyperRGB display. Unlike traditional 2K OLED displays, the 6.9-inch panel adopts a full RGB subpixel structure where red-green-blue subpixels are fully used.

This system allows for 19.5% lower power consumption compared to the POCO F7 Ultra. On the other hand, the F8 Pro has a 6.59-inch display with the same features for up to 22.3% lower power consumption.

Ultra-grade photography

Bringing pro-level photography to the segment as well, the POCO F8 Ultra features a 50MP Light Fusion 950 sensor with OIS.

With a large 1/1.31-inch sensor, the main camera has 43% better light sensitivity. The system also reduces lens flare and glare, with its 1G+6P lens setup and precise multi-coating process.

Software enhancements include 1440p ultra-clear dynamic shots with EIS and HDR enhancement.

The F8 Ultra likewise comes with a 50MP 5x periscope telephoto lens for up to 5x optical zoom, 10x in-sensor zoom, and up to 20x Ultra Zoom.

Rounding out the triple 50MP camera setup is a 50MP ultra-wide shooter. In front, meanwhile, is a 32MP selfie camera.

Not to be left behind, the POCO F8 Pro has a 50MP 2.5x telephoto camera and a 50MP Light Fusion 800 main camera with OIS.

New POCO Pads also released

In addition to the new POCO F8 Series, POCO has also launched two new tablets: the POCO Pad X1 and POCO Pad M1.

The Pad X1 is powered by a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 and delivers stable 120fps in the most demanding scenarios.

It has an 11.2-inch 3.2K display with up to 144Hz refresh rate and a 8850mAh battery with 45W turbo charging. The quad speakers are fine-tuned with Dolby Atmos and supports 200% volume boost.

For a larger screen, the POCO Pad M1 has a 12.1-inch 2.5K display with up to 120Hz refresh rate. It likewise has a quad-speaker system with Dolby Atmos, and a massive 12000mAh battery.

This slate is powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 and runs on Xiaomi HyperOS as well.

The POCO F8 Series is now official, with the brand unveiling the dual flagship devices via a global launch event in Bali, Indonesia.

Available in the POCO F8 Ultra and POCO F8 Pro variants, the series has the following prices:

POCO F8 Ultra — Denim Blue, Black

• 12GB+256GB: US$ 729 / £ 749 (early bird: US$ 679 / £ 599)
• 16GB+512GB: US$ 799 / £ 799 (early bird: US$ 729/ £ 649)

POCO F8 Pro — Titanium Silver, Blue, Black

• 12GB+256GB: US$ 579 / £ 549 (early bird: US$ 529 / £ 449)
• 16GB+512GB: US$ 629 / £ 599 (early bird: US$ 579 / £ 499)

The launch marks POCO’s entry into the premium flagship segment — the brand’s boldest step yet while maintaining its mantra of value through high-performance technology.

During the event, POCO also formally announced its partnership with audio company Bose, bringing Sound by Bose technology to both F8 smartphones.

Ultimate flagship statement

The series headliner, the POCO F8 Ultra defines what a next-generation flagship should be. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and an upgraded VisionBoost D8 chipset.

This dual-chipset architecture unlocks the device’s full performance potential. Users can expect Smart Frame Rate up to 120fps, Super Resolution up to 1.5K, and Game HDR.

Meanwhile, the POCO F8 Pro runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform.

Both phones introduce AI Super Resolution through a new GEX module, specifically optimized for five titles, including Call of Duty: Mobile and Honkai: Star Rail.

Speaking of gaming, WildBoost Optimization also fine-tunes CPU and GPU load distribution for lower power consumption and less heat.

All of these are complemented by LiquidCool Technology which features a 3D dual-channel, dual-layer IceLoop system.

Both F8 series devices run on Xiaomi HyperOS 3 for intelligence and connectivity. Features include Xiaomi HyperIsland, Xiaomi HyperConnect for cross-device interconnectivity, and Xiaomi HyperAI for advanced tools for productivity.

Mobile audio experience redefined

Meanwhile, Bose helped develop a premium triple-speaker acoustic system for the F8 Ultra to enable rich bass, detailed sound, clear vocals, and an immersive soundstage.

On the visuals side, the F8 Ultra debuts the POCO HyperRGB display. Unlike traditional 2K OLED displays, the 6.9-inch panel adopts a full RGB subpixel structure where red-green-blue subpixels are fully used.

This system allows for 19.5% lower power consumption compared to the POCO F7 Ultra. On the other hand, the F8 Pro has a 6.59-inch display with the same features for up to 22.3% lower power consumption.

Ultra-grade photography

Bringing pro-level photography to the segment as well, the POCO F8 Ultra features a 50MP Light Fusion 950 sensor with OIS.

With a large 1/1.31-inch sensor, the main camera has 43% better light sensitivity. The system also reduces lens flare and glare, with its 1G+6P lens setup and precise multi-coating process.

Software enhancements include 1440p ultra-clear dynamic shots with EIS and HDR enhancement.

The F8 Ultra likewise comes with a 50MP 5x periscope telephoto lens for up to 5x optical zoom, 10x in-sensor zoom, and up to 20x Ultra Zoom.

Rounding out the triple 50MP camera setup is a 50MP ultra-wide shooter. In front, meanwhile, is a 32MP selfie camera.

Not to be left behind, the POCO F8 Pro has a 50MP 2.5x telephoto camera and a 50MP Light Fusion 800 main camera with OIS.

New POCO Pads also released

In addition to the new POCO F8 Series, POCO has also launched two new tablets: the POCO Pad X1 and POCO Pad M1.

The Pad X1 is powered by a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 and delivers stable 120fps in the most demanding scenarios.

It has an 11.2-inch 3.2K display with up to 144Hz refresh rate and a 8850mAh battery with 45W turbo charging. The quad speakers are fine-tuned with Dolby Atmos and supports 200% volume boost.

For a larger screen, the POCO Pad M1 has a 12.1-inch 2.5K display with up to 120Hz refresh rate. It likewise has a quad-speaker system with Dolby Atmos, and a massive 12000mAh battery.

This slate is powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 and runs on Xiaomi HyperOS as well.

The tablets and their accompanying accessories are priced as follows:

POCO Pad X1 — Grey, Blue

• Tablet (8GB+512GB): US$ 399 (early bird: US$ 349)
• Floating Keyboard: US$ 199
• Keyboard: US$ 129
• Cover: US$ 49
• Focus Pen: US$ 99

POCO Pad M1— Grey, Blue

• Tablet (8GB+256GB): US$ 329 (early bird: US$ 279)
• Keyboard: US$ 99
• Cover: US$ 29
• Focus Pen: US$ 69

There’s a certain expectation that comes with a phone wearing the “Ultra” label. It should feel powerful the moment you pick it up, glide effortlessly through your day, and hold up across everything you throw at it — from people-packed events to late-night video-viewing sessions to accidental creative bursts you didn’t plan for.

The POCO F8 Ultra fits into that space: a device that wants to be the flagship for people who don’t normally buy flagships, while still delivering most of the things you look for in one.

I spent close to two weeks with the Denim Blue variant — the only version I tested — and that alone shaped a big chunk of my experience. The material feels unlike anything else in this bracket, enough that the included silicone case never even crossed my mind.

And that pretty much sets the tone for this review: the POCO F8 Ultra consistently punches above its class, not always perfectly, but convincingly enough that you’ll wonder why other brands can’t make this balance work.

What follows is my time with the phone across a handful of real events: the PIXEL by EPlayment ambassador announcement featuring cosplayer Charess, a Sony Media Thanksgiving Party where KAIA took part in some games, and finally, a quick tour of the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park in Bali — my last chapter with the device. 

The rest was pure day-to-day: doomscrolling, chat threads, emails, random YouTube spirals, obsessing over Zoe Dang dances, a few shows (Would You Marry Me, plus fancams of LE SSERAFIM’s Kazuha during “Spaghetti” promotions), and a lot of Spotify time.

Performance: Fast, fluid, and mostly problem-free

Day-to-day use on the POCO F8 Ultra feels exactly as you’d expect from a POCO F-series — and maybe even a touch more refined. 

Everything from opening apps to jumping across socials to switching between the camera and messages felt speedy. Nothing sluggish, nothing hesitant. Even coming from flagship foldables with comparable high-end chipsets, the POCO F8 Ultra holds its ground surprisingly well.

The dual-chip setup — Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with the VisionBoost D8 — didn’t make itself known in dramatic ways. It just worked. That’s usually the best-case scenario: when speed feels normal, not overwhelming.

There was, however, one odd slowdown that forced me to restart the phone. I don’t recall it overheating or being under load. I even remember being inside an air-conditioned room. But it happened just once in nearly two weeks, and the phone went right back to normal afterwards.

Heat management also tells two different stories. Indoors, on most days, the phone stayed comfortably cool. But during the GWK tour in Bali — a very humid afternoon — the F8 Ultra warmed up quickly after just a handful of photos. Earlier too, while recording one-to-five-minute fancam videos of KAIA during a party game segment, the heat was noticeable but not alarming.

Nothing throttled, nothing crashed. Just warmth you can feel — something common in hot weather and during extended video recording.

Gaming: Zenless Zone Zero at high settings, no drama

I kept gaming simple: Zenless Zone Zero was the only title I tested. I didn’t tweak the settings; everything was mostly set to high.

And honestly? The F8 Ultra handled it like a champ.

Fast-paced scenes with lots of particle effects felt smooth, clean, and stable. No visible stutters, no dips that broke immersion. Performance simply stayed out of the way and let me play.

It never throttled during gameplay. The only hitch was that earlier slowdown outside of gaming.

The Bose-tuned speakers also played a big role here. They’re really good — richer and more rounded than the recent flagship-level phone I tested, though not significantly better than the personal phones I use like the Galaxy Z Fold7, Magic V5, or iPhone 14 Pro Max. Equal, but considering the price, that’s already a win.

Display: Big, immersive, and surprisingly comfortable

You’d expect a 6.9-inch display to feel unwieldy, but in hand, the POCO F8 Ultra feels smaller than it looks. The body is mostly flat with rounded edges and a slightly raised camera module — nothing distracting.

Media consumption on the HyperRGB panel was pure fun. I watched a few episodes of “Would You Marry Me” on Disney+, along with some fancams of LE SSERAFIM’s Kazuha. No issues. Just a large, immersive screen that knows how to make content look good.

Under direct sunlight — especially during the GWK tour — legibility was excellent. I didn’t think about brightness once. It just worked.

At night, eye comfort wasn’t a problem either. I tend to catch up on videos in low-lit conditions; the display never felt harsh, never strained my eyes.

As for color accuracy, it doesn’t feel perfectly neutral — there’s a hint of saturation. Not enough to skew reality, but enough to make things look more vibrant than flat.

Battery Life: Quietly impressive

I didn’t keep track of exact screen-on time, but I kept an eye on percentages. What stood out was how the phone rarely dipped below 50%, even on days when I used the camera heavily. On lighter days — doomscrolling, chats, shows — I typically ended around 58% to 62%.

Charging performance is reliable:

• 100W wired charging:
  10–15% to full in around 1 hour and 5 minutes
• Daily top-ups (my usual routine):
  From ~50% to full in 20–25 minutes

Wireless charging works. I only used it briefly to confirm it existed — I didn’t have the spec sheet then — but it’s there if you need it.

No major shifts in routine, but the 6500mAh battery gave me enough confidence to leave the powerbank at home more often.

Camera: Reliable in Good Light, Creative at 10x, and Mostly Consistent

My shooting leaned heavily on people. During the PIXEL by Eplayment event, I captured a lot of photos of Charess. During the Sony Media Thanksgiving Party, I shot several photos and videos of KAIA. And in Bali, I covered the cultural sights at GWK, a few scenic shots and some food.

Main camera (50MP Light Fusion 950)

In good lighting, the results are vibrant, lively, and clean — exactly what you expect at this level. At night, results are mixed but lean toward usable to good, depending on the situation.

Periscope (5x and 10x)

This was more fun than expected. I shot a lot at 5x and 10x during the Charess event and during KAIA taking part in party games.

Here’s a quick reel of KAIA at the Thanksgiving party.

@rodneil KAIA playing games at the Sony Thanksgiving Party. Finally saw them live after missing out on several tech events this year. 😁 @Angela @Charice 🍒 @charlotte! 🌺 @Sophia ♡ @A-leXa #KAIA ♬ original sound – Rodneil

Portraits were also fun.

At 10x, the F8 Ultra can produce fantastic images — one of my favorite focal lengths of the entire review. There were a few moments of sharpness inconsistency when I shot KAIA, but outside of that, 10x delivered some of my most memorable shots.

Favorites

A few stood out:

A couple walking out of a shaded area into a patch of light with the massive Vishnu structure looming behind them.

A fun shot where I posed with Naruto hand-signs with the same Vishnu structure in the background.

A framed shot of the Vishnu and Garuda fountain at the GWK entrance, taken through tree branches.

A distant flower shot that created a naturally shallow depth of field.

A handful of KAIA photos that turned out much better than expected.

Front camera

I’m not a big selfie taker, so the samples are limited. They looked… nice? Nothing to complain about.

Quirks

For some reason, launching the camera in Bali occasionally slid into Document mode instead of a zoom level. Probably just a swiping mishap, but worth noting.

Here are a few more sample photos:

Audio: Warm, rich, and better than expected

I didn’t touch any audio settings during my listening sessions. Out of the box, the Bose-tuned speakers delivered warm, rich tones with no distortion even at full volume.

My soundtrack during the review included:

• Olivia Dean
  
• “Messy” by Estelle Fly
  
• “Shampoo” by Greg Shilling, Jesse Barrera, and Albert Posis
  

Across all of them, the F8 Ultra sounded fuller than phones in its bracket, and at par with flagships I normally use. That doesn’t make it a miracle speaker system — but it does make it one of the most impressive audio experiences in its price range.

Design & Handling: Denim Blue steals the show

The Denim Blue variant feels genuinely premium. The texture stands out in a sea of smooth glass slabs, and it feels great in hand — light, easy to grip, and consistently nice to hold. This alone puts it comfortably in my Top 5 best in-hand phones of 2025.

IP68? I splashed the device a bit. Water clung to the Denim material instead of rolling off the way it does on slippery glass, but it wiped clean and left no issues.

Software: Smooth and snappy with a familiar caveat

HyperOS 3 felt buttery throughout my testing. Snappy animations, fluid transitions — nothing to complain about.

HyperIsland also worked reliably. It updated consistently with whatever I played on Spotify, which is more than I can say for certain flagship phones that stop showing the right track after a while.

The only drawback: the ads. Still not a fan of them. Still too many.

eSIM setup was painless and worked instantly.

Is the POCO F8 Ultra your GadgetMatch?

The POCO F8 Ultra sits in a tight spot. It wants to be the phone for users who want flagship performance without paying flagship prices — and it largely achieves that. It offers:

• Strong performance
  
• Rich audio
• A large, immersive display
  
• Dependable battery life
  
• A versatile camera setup
  
• A design that doesn’t feel cheap in any way
  

And it does all this with the top-end variant priced at US$ 799 / GBP 799 / PhP 42,999, with early-bird discounts bringing it even lower.

It’s not perfect — the occasional warm-ups, a few sharpness inconsistencies, and the ad-heavy software are real drawbacks — but the overall experience feels far more refined than what POCO used to offer.

The F8 Ultra is what I’d call an achievable aspirational flagship: the kind you can actually buy without feeling like you’re stretching too far, while still enjoying the feeling of owning something premium.

For a lot of people, that’s exactly the sweet spot. That’s why this is a Swipe Up and deserves the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.