It’s not even been a year and POCO already decided to release the new F Series. Yep, the POCO F8 Ultra is out the same year as the POCO F7 Ultra. So, besides the very unique Bose subwoofer at the back of the phone, what else is new and good compared to the POCO F7 Ultra? And why now?
Unboxing
Inside the box, you’ll get a TPU black soft case, a USB-A to USB-C cable, and yes, POCO continues being POCO by having the fast charger still included. This time around is a 100W HyperCharge brick.
Design & Build
The POCO F8 Ultra grips better than last year’s F7 Ultra’s glass finish. My unit is the Black variant, nothing fancy, and has a matte finish at the back and the sides too. It also has a sandblasting shimmer at the back of the phone too, but yes, the finish doesn’t attract any fingerprints.
But I have to say that the new Denim Blue was a bit more premium looking.
It also has an IP68 dust and water resistance, something that POCO only started from the last generation, making it standard for their Ultra model. Then there’s also more of the camera plateau at the back. Yes, I know. Just because Apple calls it plateau, now everybody calls it that. So, yes, it doesn’t wobble at all when you’re typing the phone on a surface or on a table, which it did slightly on the previous POCO F7 Ultra.
Anyways, this time POCO hides a tiny Bose-branded subwoofer inside. And this makes the POCO F8 Ultra one of the strangest but most unique designs of the year 2025. A phone that has a built-in “thunderous” base driver. Love it or hate it, credit where it’s due, POCO tried something new.
The phone weighs about 280g for the Black color variant and apparently a bit more of 220 g for the Denim Blue variant. Not too heavy and solid in the hands, but the frames are also flatter this time and the edges are also still curved, but just slightly. So overall, you would get a more comfortable hold and yes, immediately the design feels different from the previous POCO F7 Ultra.
Display
So the F8 Ultra has a 6.93-inch 120 Hz Ultra-Clear AMOLED display compared to the 6.67-inch screen on the previous F7 Ultra with 3500 nits of peak brightness, slightly more than the previous 3200 nits. Then the resolution is slightly lower. Not sure why, but yeah. But they increased the panel size and the overall brightness as mentioned earlier.
And the focus is more on the eye comfort with the TUV Rheinland certifications with the POCO Shield Glass on top. So yes, it is bigger, brighter, and more comfortable to use whether you’re using this outdoors or doom scrolling at night.
Performance
Inside is Qualcomm’s latest, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, their new 3nm process SoC.
Memory and the storage options include:
- 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, or;
- 16GB of RAM with 512GB of storage
The RAM is an LPDDR5X RAM and the storage is a UFS 4.1. Exactly what you expect for a 2025 flagship phone.
You’re also getting the VisionBoost D8, a new generation of a dedicated graphics processing chip that handles game HDR, super resolution, and smart frame rate management all at the same time. Perfect for those of you who want to buy POCO phones only for gaming.
And yes, HyperOS 3 and Xiaomi’s HyperAI is builtin with things like Circle to Search, AI Writer, Interpreter, and all of those Gemini powered goodness inside of the phone.
Cameras
At the back, the F8 Ultra uses a 50 MP Light Fusion 950 main camera and this is a large sensor which has OIS and apparently improved on the night performance.
Then there’s also a 50 MP 5x periscope telephoto lens which is a 115mm lens. So here’s one of the bigger upgrades compared to the regular telephoto lens on the previous F7 Ultra.
And then there’s also the upgraded 50 MP ultrawide camera from a 32 MP previously. So yes, it is a triple 50 MP system.
And from early tests, the daytime shots look flagship level as expected.
The telephoto lenses really steal the show overall, and the ultrawide camera is improved with less edge detection.
The color science between the lenses are more consistent than the POCO F7 Ultra.
Then video maxes at 8K 30fps for the rear compared to 20 fps on 8K previously. (Check out my YouTube video for the video footage)
And the front camera is a 32 MP with up to 4K video recording. Like, holy mother of God, finally!
So yeah, overall a solid improvement, but I’ll test everything in-depth in my long-term review of this phone.
Battery
This time around, you get a massive 6,500 mAh of battery, the biggest on any F series from POCO and even bigger than last year’s 5,300 mAh on the POCO F7 Ultra.
Wired charging speed is slower than last year. Again, I do not know why, as it is at 100W wired Hypercharge instead of 120 W on last year’s phone, but the wireless charging speeds are the same at 50W wireless with up to 22.5W of reverse charging.
This should easily be at least a 2-day battery. But then again, let me confirm that during my daily use.
Audio & Experience
Audio experience is really great because this is where it truly stands out. The Bose-tuned symmetrical stereo speakers and that subwoofer on this phone or at the back of the phone is one of the most unique signatures or the sound signatures ever on a smartphone because it’s not just louder but you can actually feel the low frequency punch when gaming especially when it comes to watching movies.
Honestly, while this unique subwoofer might seem like just a gimmick or a novelty, but you will know the difference and it is something that you will truly enjoy.
Conclusion
So, all in all, the POCO F8 Ultra is not just another refresh. It really tries to differentiate itself with a larger and a brighter display, a bigger battery and a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a stronger 50 MP triple camera system, and this crazy Bose subwoofer thing at the back.
[Watch the full video on YouTube here]
–
I’ll be testing the gaming, battery life, cameras, and the audio system in different scenarios in the next few weeks. And I’ll also do a comparison video between this and the POCO F7 Ultra too, so do subscribe to Adam Lobo TV on YouTube if you guys haven’t done so.
Related:
