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Earlier this year, Poco launched its first-ever Ultra phone phonethe Poco F7 Ultra. It was an impressive device for its $649 price. However, it wasn’t among the mainstream flagships like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which costs more than twice as much. Its successor, the Poco F8 Ultra, fills this gap with premium features like a larger display and a massive battery. It also offers a unique selling point that I didn’t expect to find on a phone: it looks great.
Poco says the F8 Ultra is its “official entry into the premium flagship segment” and the price increase reflects that. The Poco F8 Ultra costs $729 which is cheaper than what was recently announced oneplus 15, Which starts at $900. It can’t be compared to the likes of the OPPO Find X8 Ultra Xiaomi 15 Ultra or Galaxy S25 Ultra (All of which cost more than $1,000.) However, no phone I’ve tested comes close to the F8 Ultra’s audio quality.
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The Poco F8 Ultra has three speakers: a top speaker and a bottom speaker, plus an additional Bose-branded subwoofer located next to the rear cameras. It allows for full 2.1 stereo output (the 2 stands for the speakers and the .1 for the subwoofer), which in real life sounds larger than expected. It adds a nice amount of depth and bass to the sound.
The Poco F8 Ultra Sound By Bose partnership is a winner in every way. It even has a branding on the phone’s camera panel.
You can choose from two Bose-tuned sound profiles: “Dynamic” and “Balanced.” The default EQ settings are “Immersive” (which adds a slight echo for a 360-degree effect) and “Voice” (which enhances vocals). You can also customize the equalizer under the “Custom” setting.
I used the “Dynamic” profile for extra bass. It makes music sound rich with its wide audio range, and there was no distortion in the phone’s speakers, even at high volume levels. The “Balanced” setting seems flatter by comparison.
I used the Poco F8 Ultra to watch YouTube videos and some Netflix shows. I even used it as a bathroom speaker (I love good music in the bathroom). Obviously, it’s not the same as connecting your phone to a device Bluetooth speakerBut it’s surprisingly decent. In fact, I prefer media consumption on the Poco F8 Ultra now because it looks better than most devices Tabletswhich is usually my favorite device at home.
However, I’m not sure if the world is ready for phones with this level of sound quality. There’s already one person on the subway playing media through their phone’s speakers, and this can make rides noisier. If you enjoy the privacy of your own room and enjoy watching videos without headphones or earbuds, the Poco F8 Ultra is made for you.
The Poco F8 Ultra fits my hand like jeans
They look like jeans, but they’re not made of denim.
Flip the phone over, and you’ll notice another unique feature: it has a denim-like finish on the back that looks like a pair of jeans. Poco says the back is covered with “Xiaomi’s third-generation nanotechnology material, providing durability against dirt and abrasion while featuring a sleek techno look,” so it’s not real fabric. I tested the durability with a few drops of cold coffee, and I’m happy to report that it was unaffected.
The F8 Ultra is comfortable to hold, despite its flat sides. Thanks to the rounded corners and slightly curved sides at the back, it offers a comfortable grip, even when taking photos with it.
The Poco F8 Ultra has a large, immersive display.
The stunning speaker system is accompanied by a 6.9-inch screen with a resolution of 2608 x 1200 pixels, supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, 3500 nits of peak brightness and Dolby Vision. It has a so-called HyperRGB display, where each pixel has red, green and blue subpixels, instead of sharing red and blue with green. In my experience, the screen looks sharp, vivid, and is easily readable in bright sunlight. However, the difference, especially with HyperRGB, will likely not be noticeable to the average user.
To facilitate all this media consumption, the Poco F8 Ultra has a 6,500 mAh battery (up from the F7 Ultra’s 5,300 mAh battery) with support for 100W wired charging. You’ll need to purchase a compatible charger to access this speed, as it doesn’t come with it. It also supports 50W fast wireless charging and 22.5W reverse wireless charging, which can be used to charge devices such as wireless headphones and other phones.
During seven days of use, I had no concerns about the battery. The new Poco phone easily lasted a full day on a single charge.
The Poco F8 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s most powerful chipset, which is Snapdragon 8 Elite Generation 5. This is the same chipset that powers the OnePlus 15 and will likely be found in the future Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Poco’s new flagship is slick and fast running HyperOS 3. I haven’t had time to play games on it yet (I’ve been busy watching my favorite movies, like Last Christmas and Kal Ho Na Ho), so I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs during intense gaming sessions.
Poco F8 Ultra cameras
The camera island on the Poco F8 Ultra is not inspired by the iPhone 17 Pro. The Poco F6 Pro has a similar camera module.
Let’s talk about optics. The Poco F8 Ultra has an upgraded camera system with wide-angle, ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, each containing a 50MP sensor. The 50MP triple cameras look great, but the telephoto and ultra-wide sensors are quite small.
Poco F8 Ultra rear cameras comparison
| Lens angle | slot | Sensor size | accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| wide | f/1.67 | 1/1.31″ | 50 megapixel |
| Very spacious | f/2.4 | 1/2.76″ | 50 megapixel |
| 5x telephoto | f/3 | 1/2.88″ | 50 megapixel |
Selfie taken with the 5x telephoto camera. It adds nice bokeh with accurate edge detection.
The Poco F8 Ultra delivers very good photos for the price. Unlike Xiaomi’s flagship phones, Poco’s cameras don’t benefit from Leica adjustment. But the images have a vibrant look with colors that pop.
During testing, the F8 Ultra proved unreliable and sometimes had difficulty processing images. For example, I had the background processed in one shot and completely missed it in the second, resulting in an exaggerated white background behind me.
There’s a strange processing difference and color shift that occurs between the ultra-wide camera shots (left) and the main camera shots (middle). The third image is a macro shot. Notice the amount of detail on the watch face.
Close-up photos have a lot of detail, and I especially love the portraits I take with them. The telephoto lens acts as a macro camera, but occasionally reverts to the main camera in low light. As for the ultra-wide camera, it provides average quality images and is prone to color shifting. It’s also 0.7x, or 18mm, which isn’t as wide as most other phones. The ultra-wide iPhone 17 has a 13mm equivalent lens.
Overall, I like the photos from the main camera and the telephoto camera. It’s a capable camera system that I find more versatile than the similarly priced iPhone 17 and Galaxy S25.
Should you buy the Poco F8 Ultra?
The F8 Pro is missing the fancy back panel.
I don’t think I’ve ever recommended a phone because of its sound, but the Poco F8 Ultra is a real media powerhouse. The audio system is at the top of its class, and it also has a great display and long battery life. This makes it my phone of choice for media consumption.
The Poco F8 Ultra starts at $729 for 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. There’s also a 16GB/512GB variant for $799.
If you’re still looking for something under $700, Poco also offers the more affordable F8 Pro, which starts at $579. It has a smaller 6.59-inch AMOLED display, a 6,210 mAh battery, and similar Bose speakers. Both phones have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
The Poco F8 Pro is powered by last year’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and has 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage ($629). It has a downgraded camera system with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 2.5 optical zoom and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
Like all other Poco phones, the new flagship devices will not launch in the US.