As a nice Q4 surprise, the POCO F8 Ultra just launched in the city of Bali, Indonesia–and we were fortunate enough to got our hands on one. Yes, boys and girls. POCO’s making waves yet again, and they’re boldly solidifying their presence in the premium flagship conversation while staying true to their roots of delivering exceptional value. We got the previous generation’s F7 Pro and Ultra earlier this year, and we’re well aware that it’s quite the surprise to have the F8 kicking down everyone’s doors in November. Still, we embrace the hype.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with the groundbreaking VisionBoost D8 chipset is already turning heads, and POCO’s deploying this powerhouse combo in spectacular fashion. We’re talking next-generation silicon, a spectacular camera upgrade featuring a flagship 5x periscope telephoto lens, a bigger 6500mAh battery, premium audio courtesy of BOSE, and IP68 dust and water resistance. This isn’t just a minor update, it’s pretty much an entire renovation.
So, whether you’ve been riding with POCO since day one or you picked up the F7 Ultra earlier this year and want to see what an 8-month difference makes, buckle up. We’re heading all the way to Bali–virtually, to see if the POCO F8 Ultra lives up to the hype and earns its place in your pocket.
Geeksthetic
Let’s talk about that Denim Blue finish for a second. Stunning.
The POCO F8 Ultra rocks a premium textured design that’s genuinely unlike anything we’ve handled recently. The Denim Blue colorway—our review unit—looks exactly like denim fabric, complete with that characteristic weave pattern. But here’s the kicker: it feels leathery to the touch. Peculiar? Absolutely. Premium? Without question. It’s one of those tactile experiences you need to feel for yourself because words don’t quite do it justice. That balance between visual texture and haptic feedback creates something surprisingly sophisticated.
Now, at 163.33 x 77.82 x 8.3 mm and 220 grams, you’d expect this beast to feel unwieldy given that massive 6.9″ display. Surprisingly, it doesn’t. The weight distribution is spot-on, and despite the size, it remains lightweight and handy enough for one-handed use when needed. The flat sides provide excellent grip real estate, housing all your essential I/O.
But here’s where POCO really flexes: IP68 dust and water resistance. That’s flagship-tier protection right there, folks. Whether you’re caught in a downpour or accidentally knock over your drink, this phone’s got your back. It’s the kind of premium feature that screams confidence in build quality.
The camera module remains eye-catching with its circular segmentation design, now housing some seriously upgraded glass. POCO’s been working on their camera game—something we flagged in our F7 Ultra review—and spoiler alert: they’ve delivered. More on that shortly.
Binge-watching Factor
So, the 6.9″ 3120Hz ultra-clear AMOLED display? Absolute banger, right from the get-go. How so?
To put things into perspective, we’re talking 3500 nits peak brightness and 2000 nits HBM—numbers that translate to effortless outdoor visibility and HDR content that pops. Whether you’re streaming under the unforgiving midday sun or binge-watching in your dimly lit room, this panel adapts beautifully. With DC dimming and a minimum brightness of just 1 nit, there’s not risk of flashbanging your face at midnight.
The 120Hz refresh rate keeps everything smooth, while the up to 2560Hz instant touch sampling rate helped quite a bit when navigating through apps and windows. Gamers will appreciate this, but honestly, everyone who uses a smartphone benefits from that responsiveness. Chuck in 68 billion colors, DCI-P3 wide color gamut, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision support, and you’ve got yourself prime viewing real estate with a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio that makes blacks darker than the darkest night. Sorry, that sounded spooky. Moving on.
Let’s talk about TÜV certifications. Low Blue Light (Hardware Solution), Flicker Free, and Circadian Friendly—they’re all here, ready to protect your eyes during those inevitable 3AM binge sessions. The display settings remain user-friendly and accessible, so customizing your viewing experience is easy.
Now, let’s talk about the elephant on the backside of the smartphone–the one that’s literally been staring at your soul. This is where POCO really swings for the fences. Sound by BOSE—yes, this is no gimmick or trick. It’s the genuine article. We’re getting symmetrical stereo speakers with some tremendous audio fidelity. In comparison to the previous generation’s POCO F7 Ultra, the difference in sound is night and day. The soundstage is wide, the bass thumps hard without distorting, and clarity remains pristine even at maximum volume. Do take note that this is purely hardware, so once you slap on your earbuds, it’s Bose-no more. For this, Dolby Atmos support comes in clutch, delivering an immersive experience for any content on screen.
Overall, you’ll have a lot of fun on your viewing marathons. Guaranteed.
Gaming Prowess
Mobile gaming remains POCO’s bread and butter, and the F8 Ultra kicks things up a notch. Previously, the F7 Ultra’s SD 8 Elite chipset ran circles around every mobile game in town. This generation’s processor does so, but with more ruthless aggression. Allow us to explain.
For testing, we threw ourselves into extended sessions of Wuthering Waves and Honkai Star Rail, both maxed out to their highest settings. The result? Sublime performance across the board. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is an absolute monster, but what really sets this apart is the VisionBoost D8 chipset—a dedicated graphics boost processor built on a 3nm manufacturing process.
Likewise, the dedicated game engine enables Super Resolution, Smart Frame Rate, and Game HDR simultaneously through Dual-core Visuals architecture, so if you want to hit that 120fps gameplay, you absolutely can.
Wuthering Waves ran like butter, maintaining smooth frame rates even during chaotic combat sequences with particle effects flying everywhere. Honkai Star Rail? Equally impressive, with those gorgeous environments and elaborate animations rendering without a hitch. The Adreno GPU coupled with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage ensures that everything loads fast and runs faster. As for storage, ours has a sweet 512GB of RAM--which is pretty much the sweet spot.
Remember how we described it as “ruthless aggression? It’s the thermals. After about an hour of continuous max-settings gameplay, the device did get noticeably warm—not uncomfortably so, but definitely warm to the touch. Understandably so, as you’re basically reigning in a rampaging beast with a few pieces of metal. It’s a tall task, for sure.
That being said, we didn’t get any thermal throttling, and we suspect a future firmware update will optimize things further. The cooling solution is working, just perhaps not in sync with the amount of power being forced into the mobile games in question. Still, no performance drops were detected, and that’s what ultimately matters. If you set your expectations and are fine with your phone being less than ice-cold during playthroughs, you’ll be thoroughly satisfied.
Geek Photoshoot Capabilities
The camera system represents a massive leap forward. Last time, we figured it was a good improvement–but not the highlight. This time, it looks like they’re on to something.
We’re talking 50MP Light Fusion 950 main camera with OIS, 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and OIS, plus a 50MP ultra-wide camera. Up front, there’s a 32MP selfie shooter. This is pretty flagship photography territory, folks. While it’s not as stellar as your usual camera contenders, you can see that they’re making their way to the top. Consider this their formal challenge.
The main shooter powered by the Light Fusion 950 sensor delivers excellent results right out of the box. Colors are vibrant with just a tinge of saturation. Dynamic range is quite impressive, and detail retention is solid even in more challenging lighting situations. That f/1.67 aperture paired with 2.4μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel technology means low-light performance is genuinely doable, and the OIS helps keep things steady–even when you zoom out of the wazoo.
Compared to the previous installment, we’re getting a true blue 50MP periscope telephoto camera. With a 115mm equivalent focal length and OIS, this lens further reinforces that supposed flagship versatility. The 5x optical zoom produces sharp, detailed images that don’t fall apart under scrutiny. Yes, there’s AI processing happening behind the scenes, but it’s tastefully done—enhancing rather than overpowering. You can zoom in further digitally, and while quality inevitably degrades, it’s still way more usable than we expected.
The 50MP ultra-wide camera captures expansive scenes with minimal distortion at the edges. Great for landscapes, group shots, or architectural photography where you need that extra field of view.
For video, you’re looking at solid capabilities across the board, up to The main camera handles stabilization well, and the overall quality is more than adequate for social media content or casual vlogging. The front-facing 32MP camera delivers clean selfies with natural-looking bokeh in portrait mode. Speaking of selfies, we still want that 4K 60fps front facing video capability, though. It’s a nitpick, and a hill that I’ll die on.
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- 0.8X
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- 1X
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- 0.8X Portrait
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- 1X Portrait
As for AI features, the previous lineup makes a comeback–allowing you to manipulate, refine, and completely alter the photos you snap. From AI expansion to reflection removal, it’s all here, and ready to use.
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- Reflection
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- Remove Reflection
What’s particularly encouraging is seeing POCO FINALLY stepping away completely from the pure gaming-phone niche and slowly embracing some good ol’ lifestyle photography. Some gamers are also content creators, after all. Uploading nothing but gameplay bereft of any personality won’t fly in the year 2025.
Everyday Reliability
Daily driving the POCO F8 Ultra is, in a word, effortless. Easy peasy.
Xiaomi HyperOS 3 comes baked in, no major update required. Everything feels snappy and responsive alongside Android 15, with the AI integration doing a bit of heavy lifting in the background rather than getting in your way. Features you’d expect from a modern flagship—customizable always-on display, gesture navigation, smart charging optimization—are all present and accounted for. The previous AI transcription, translation, and the like are still here–and more refined. AI wallpaper now supports human subjects, in case you were wondering.
As for longevity, that 6500mAh battery is an absolute tank. Thank goodness they went beyond the 5000s this time around, when you see 7000 mAh smartphones popping into the market. With moderate use—messaging, social media, some photography, occasional gaming—we consistently pushed beyond a full day and into day two without issue. Heavy users will comfortably make it through a full day of intense use, and have just about 20% to spare.
When you do need to charge, that 100W HyperCharge is ridiculously fast, and it’s nice to see its consistent with the previous iteration. We’re talking full charge in half an hour. It’s the kind of convenience that changes your charging habits entirely. We also have 50W wireless HyperCharge for convenience, plus up to 22.5W reverse charging if you need to juice up your other devices via OTG.
We’re also glad that the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor made a comeback. It’s lightning-quick and reliable, even with slightly damp fingers. Face unlock works seamlessly as a backup. Connectivity is future-proofed with Wi-Fi 7 capability, and the dual SIM flexibility (nano + nano, nano + eSIM, or eSIM + eSIM) covers all bases. That latter part is important. The F7 Ultra didn’t have eSIM support.
Let’s also not forget that IP68 rating. This quality is everywhere right now, so we’d simply be upset if the F8 Ultra didn’t have it. Overall, This is a phone that just works, works well, and works reliably. No frustrations, no compromises.
Geek Lifestyle Final Verdict
If the F7 Ultra was a polite knock on the door of the big boy’s club, the POCO F8 Ultra is a formal declaration of war against its flagship ilk.
Lateral upgrades and minor updates are out of the question—this is POCO planting their flag firmly in premium flagship territory while maintaining their value proposition. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with the VisionBoost D8 chipset delivers incredible performance. The 6500mAh battery with blazing-fast charging eliminates battery anxiety. The Sound by BOSE audio system transforms media consumption. The flagship-level periscope telephoto camera shows POCO is serious about photography. And that IP68 rating provides peace of mind that was previously unthinkable at this price point.
Hardcore mobile gamers will love the reliable, raw performance. Tech enthusiasts will appreciate the cutting-edge specs. Content creators will welcome the camera upgrades. Anyone seeking a premium flagship experience without the premium flagship price will find exactly what they’re looking for.
While it can definitely throw a punch, it’ll likely get rocked as hard. After all, that’s the nature of the game. But this is only the second half of round one. If they continue with their improvements and introduce more of that POCO ingenuity, there just might be a TKO to look out for in the succeeding round.
The POCO F8 Ultra is priced at PHP 42,999 for the 16GB+512GB variant with early bird discounts slashing it down to P37,999. It’s available exclusively on Lazada, so make sure to check it out there for mechanics on how to score those deals.
Meanwhile, the 12GB+256GB model is priced at PHP 39,999.