Poco F8 Ultra: New premium smartphone with Bose sound and denim back
The Xiaomi brand Poco has introduced two new smartphones, the F8 Ultra and F8 Pro. Both devices come with Bose sound, the Ultra with a denim back.
The Poco F8 Ultra isoptionally available in a denim look.
Less than a year after the introduction of the Poco F7 series, the manufacturer is following up with the F8 Ultra and F8 Pro. The Ultra model, which the manufacturer classifies in the premium segment, is equipped with Qualcomm's current top chip Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and costs from 830 Euros. The Pro variant, which has a reduced feature set, is available for around 650 euros.
Current Snapdragon chip, denim back
The Poco F8 Ultra features an AMOLED display with 6.9 inches and 2608 x 1200 pixels. The refresh rate is up to 120 Hz, the maximum brightness during normal use is 2000 cd/m², and in HDR mode, the peak brightness is said to be up to 3500 cd/m². The Ultra's Snapdragon chip is accompanied by optional 12 or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 or 512 GB of UFS 4.1 storage.
The back of the F8 Ultra houses three cameras, each with 50 MP sensors. The wide-angle camera with Xiaomi's Light Fusion 950 sensor, which is also used in the Xiaomi 17 Pro, features optical image stabilization (OIS) and an f/1.67 aperture. The periscope telephoto lens with five-times optical zoom also has OIS and an f/3.0 aperture. Regarding the ultra-wide-angle lens, the manufacturer only states that it has an f/2.4 aperture. The front camera comes with a 32 MP sensor.
The 6500 mAh battery can be charged wired at up to 100 watts; wireless charging is possible at up to 50 watts via a proprietary charging dock. Furthermore, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 (F8 Pro: BT 5.4) are on board, and it supports dual-SIM operation (Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM or Nano-SIM + eSIM, eSIM + eSIM). Like the Pro, the smartphone is also protected against dust and water according to IP68. Pleasingly: Both models feature a fast ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. A visual highlight of the Ultra is the textured denim back, which gives the smartphone a special finish.
"Sound by Bose"
A special feature of the F8 Ultra and Pro: The integrated audio system was developed in collaboration with sound experts from Bose. According to the manufacturer, the "Sound by Bose" system in the Ultra includes a symmetrical triple speaker system with a 2.1 channel architecture, which Poco describes as "a technological advancement for compact devices." Among other things, it is intended to enable "powerful bass, detailed sound structures, clear voices, and a realistic soundstage."
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The Pro model only has two speakers and no additional subwoofer. However, like the more expensive model, it supports Dolby Atmos.
Poco F8 Pro: Less camera, predecessor chip
The slightly cheaper F8 Pro is equipped with Qualcomm's still-fast Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is also supported by fast 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM (9600Mbps) and 256 or 512 GB UFS 4.1 storage. The display is slightly smaller than in the Ultra at 6.59 inches and has a resolution of 2510 x 1156 pixels. The Pro also supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, and the brightness is identical to the more expensive model.
(Image:Â Xiaomi)
The battery is slightly smaller than the Ultra's at 6210 mAh, but like the more expensive device, fast charging at 100 watts is supported. However, wireless charging remains exclusive to the Ultra.
The camera equipment is also somewhat reduced: for the wide-angle camera, Xiaomi uses an older 50 MP sensor (Light Fusion 800) with f/1.88, the 50 MP telephoto zoom has a smaller optical magnification, and the ultra-wide-angle camera has an 8 MP instead of a 50 MP sensor. The front camera has 20 MP.
On the software side, Xiaomi relies on HyperOS 3 based on Android 16 for the new Poco devices. According to the manufacturer, both should receive 4 years of Android updates and 6 years of security updates.
The Poco F8 Ultra with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage costs 830 Euros; for the variant with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage, 900 Euros are charged. For the Pro model with 12 GB+256 GB, the manufacturer charges 650 Euros; the version with 12 GB+512 GB costs 700 Euros.
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