POCO has spent years dominating the “midrange king” conversation, but with the launch of the POCO F8 Ultra and POCO F8 Pro, the Xiaomi sub-brand isn’t just undercutting rivals; it’s forcing us to ask why we’re paying twice as much for phones that do half as much.

We’re talking top-tier chipsets, a legitimate Bose partnership, and a move to the “Premium Era” that actually feels earned rather than just marketing fluff.

Pricing and availability

POCO is aggressively targeting the global market, including the Philippines, by immediately releasing its smartphones, which launched alongside the POCO Pad X1 and POCO Pad M1. For our international readers, the pricing remains competitive in U.S. dollars.

• POCO F8 Ultra: Starts at $729 (early bird: $679)
• POCO F8 Pro: Starts at $579 (early bird: $529)

In the Philippines, the POCO F8 Ultra is a Lazada exclusive, while the POCO F8 Pro lives on Shopee. Both come with significant discounts and freebies for those who purchase any one of them until December 9.

The Ultra: Bleeding-edge specs and a Bose soundtrack

The POCO F8 Ultra is effectively a showcase for what happens when you stop cutting corners. It’s one of the first devices to ship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the refreshed, overpowered silicon for late 2025. That is paired with a dedicated VisionBoost D8 chip to handle the heavy lifting of upscaling games to 1.5K resolution and 120FPS.

One of the most interesting upgrades this year is audible. POCO teamed up with Bose to engineer a legitimate 2.1-channel audio system inside the chassis. That means a triple-speaker setup that overcomes the usual physical limitations of thin handsets to deliver actual bass and a wider soundstage.

@revuphilippines #POCOF8Ultra unboxed: #UltrapowerAscended. 💪🏻 Go beyond plus ultra. 😉 IYKYK. (Note: The Philippine version includes the 100W charger inside the box.) #POCO #RevuDotComDotPH @POCO Philippines @POCO.Global @monch @Alora Uy Guerrero ♬ original sound – Revu Philippines

Our POCO F8 Ultra unboxing video. Our review should be up on our YouTube page today

The camera bump is equally serious. You get a 50-megapixel Light Fusion 950 main sensor with optical image stabilization, but the real news is the 50-megapixel 5x periscope telephoto lens. Usually, “flagship killers” ditch the periscope to save cash. POCO kept it, offering up to 10x in-sensor zoom and 20x Ultra Zoom.

All of this is wrapped in a chassis that comes in Black or Denim Blue. If you grab the Denim Blue version — which is what we have, so watch out for our full review dropping anytime today, November 27 — it features a textured, nano-tech finish that feels grippy and tech-chic rather than just being another slab of glass.

Rounding out the “Ultra” credentials is the huge 6,500mAh battery squeezed behind that 6.9-inch HyperRGB OLED display. It supports 100-watt wired charging (0-100% in 38 minutes) and 50-watt wireless charging, so you’ll spend less time tethered to a wall.

Specs

• 6.9-inch OLED display, 1.5K resolution (2608 x 1200), 120Hz refresh rate, 3,500 nits peak brightness, VisionBoost D8 chipset, POCO Shield Glass
• 3nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor
• Adreno 840 GPU
• 12GB/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB/512GB UFS 4.1 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel main (Light Fusion 950, OIS), 50-megapixel periscope telephoto (5x optical zoom), and 50-megapixel ultrawide cameras
• 32-megapixel front camera
• Ultrasonic under-display fingerprint reader
• 6,500mAh battery with 100-watt wired and 50-watt wireless charging
• IP68 rating
• Xiaomi HyperOS 3.0 based on Android 16
• Colors: Black, Denim Blue

The Pro: The ‘smart money’ choice

Usually, the Pro model in a lineup is just a watered-down consolation prize for people who can’t afford the Ultra. The POCO F8 Pro, however, makes a loud argument that it’s actually worth buying.

It keeps the core engine — the Snapdragon 8 Elite platform — which could still be overkill for 99% of tasks for most people, and pairs it with a slightly more manageable 6.59-inch 120Hz HyperRGB display. If the POCO F8 Ultra feels like a surfboard in your pocket, the Pro feels like a phone.

The best news? POCO finally stopped gatekeeping the good cameras. The Pro gets a dedicated 50-megapixel telephoto lens (2.5x optical, 5x lossless), meaning you don’t have to rely on digital zoom mush when shooting portraits. That sits alongside a 50-megapixel main shooter with OIS and the Light Fusion 800 sensor.

The POCO F8 Pro is also built like a tank, or at least a pretty one. The back is a single piece of “milled glass” that transitions seamlessly into the camera bump, available in Titanium Silver, Blue, and Black.

Despite the smaller size, they somehow crammed in a 6,210mAh battery. That is ridiculous for a sub-7-inch device and should easily last a day and a half. Like its big brother, it charges at 100 watts (0-100% in 37 minutes) and keeps the Sound by Bose audio tuning, making it arguably the most well-rounded phone POCO has ever offered.

Specs

• 6.59-inch AMOLED display, 1.5K resolution (2510 x 1156), 120Hz refresh rate, 3,500 nits peak brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
• 3nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor
• Adreno 830 GPU
• 12GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB/512GB UFS 4.1 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel main (Light Fusion 800, OIS), 50-megapixel telephoto (2.5x optical zoom), and 8-megapixel ultrawide cameras
• 20-megapixel front camera
• Ultrasonic under-display fingerprint reader
• 6,210mAh battery with 100-watt wired charging
• IP68 rating
• Xiaomi HyperOS 3.0 based on Android 16
• Colors: Titanium Silver, Blue, Black

HyperOS 3 and the AI push

It wouldn’t be a 2025 launch without a heavy dose of AI, and both smartphones ship with Xiaomi HyperOS 3. This brings the new AI Agent, powered by Google Gemini, which handles the usual suite of generative tasks like deep search and live voice interactions.

More practically, the brand is debuting Xiaomi Astral Communication here. It sounds like sci-fi marketing speak, but it’s actually a set of dedicated signal tuners (Surge T1S and T1+) designed to keep you connected in dead zones, supposedly boosting cellular performance by up to 42%. For anyone who has tried to load a webpage in a crowded stadium or a basement, that’s a feature worth more than any AI wallpaper generator.

So yeah, POCO has finally graduated from “good for the price” to just plain “good.” If the big players aren’t nervous looking at these spec sheets, they haven’t been paying attention.

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