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POCO F8 REVEALED After Massive Hype at Today’s Launch Event

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Another gaming phone to hype the masses. Oooh we haven’t been writing for three months, poetic!

The POCO F8, after a series of rumors, confirmations, and certifications, finally has been revealed to us after its massive launch in Indonesia today. Its main feat is not its gaming performance, not AI, but rather its big battery and its partnership with Bose that enhances your audio experience. You can really feel your teammates killing you after a round of PUBG thanks to it.

Two phones were announced. The F8 Pro and the F8 Ultra. Yes, the regular F8 is nowhere to be seen, oddly enough. The F8 Pro uses the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite while the F8 Ultra is powered by the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. For your everyday casual user, the offset performance of these two are highly negligible.

POCO F8 PRO

To keep up the branding of the phones being prestigious, the POCO F8 Pro became the “vanilla” F8, while the Ultra became the “Pro”. The POCO F8 Pro, while not as powerful as the Ultra, still packs some handy specs for those who are tight on a budget and want to upgrade from the POCO F5 or F6. If you happen to own a POCO F7 Pro or even the Ultra, you might want to skip this one.

The POCO F8 Pro has a sleeker, much simpler design. It has some similarities with the more powerful sibling. Notably, the Bose speakers which are said to be the “best in any phone, ever”. It also has a metallic back and frame, coming with three colors, as shown above. Simply named “Silver’, “Blue”, and “Black”.

One of the main selling points of the POCO F8 Pro is not just gaming, but also the photography experience. For the first time in the Pro series, the phone has a proper and legitimate telephoto camera, paired with a 50MP Light Fusion 950 camera and the mediocre 8MP Ultrawide. They got to cut costs somewhere. The selfie camera is the typical 20MP sensor found on many other midrange flagship killers.

The brand intends the POCO F8 Pro to be similar in terms of performance with last year’s POCO F7 Ultra, hence the use of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The brand is also boasting of a better thermal management system, up to 40% better cooling. So, first time users who want to get the POCO Experience to the fullest can simply purchase the POCO F8 Pro and they will get the same experience as last year’s POCO F7 Ultra. The phone has 12GB RAM with a choice between 256 or 512GB storage.

The big trend of phones this year is well… literally going big. Thanks to improvements to battery tech in the last few years, brands can use bigger batteries without sacrificing so much storage. Yes, we’re talking about the Silicon-Carbon (SiC) batteries that were introduced a few years back. The POCO F8 Pro uses a 6210mAh battery with 100W fast charging. It charges your phone in nearly an instant, from empty to full in 32 minutes. This is to be expected, however, in any midrange or flagship phone launched this year.

The brand has partnered with BOSE to improve the sound experience, including a customized sound profile tuning to make the sound more dynamic and more balanced. The phone boasts stereo speakers with Hi-Res Audio for both wired and wireless connections, as one can expect from a flagship.

The POCO F8 Pro uses a chip called the Surge T1+, which optimizes signal quality especially in areas with low coverage. Going back to a history lesson, early phones, from 2014-2019, were often plagued with connectivity problems mainly because those phones cannot communicate well within a signal tower or Wi-Fi at far ranges. Technologies such as a communications chip help resolve those issues, and so sudden loss of connections should be minimal, even in heavyweight duties.

The phone runs HyperOS 3 based on Android 16.

Other important specs to mention include the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor (which is faster than the typical optical ones), 5G services, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4, IP68 water/dust resistance, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and E-SIM compatibility. It also has an IR Blaster, a tradition that Xiaomi, and by extension, POCO has maintained since their early days, with some exceptions such as the Xiaomi Mi 8 series which lacked any.

The POCO F8 Pro starts at PHP 29,999 (12/256) while the 512GB version starts at PHP 31,999. All three colors are available for POCO users to choose and should be available through the brand’s official online channels like Shopee and Lazada. Pre-orders starts today while regular sale starts at December 10. By buying early, users can gain extra discounts and vouchers through Shopee and Lazada.

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POCO F8 ULTRA

The POCO F8 Ultra comes with a 5x optical zoom periscope camera, a first for the brand. It also comes with a so-called 50MP Light Fusion primary camera. The brand really wants you to get the Ultra over the Pro and is the main highlight of the series, including its unique Denim Blue color, a larger 6.9″ AMOLED screen, and as mentioned, a much more powerful chip.

In terms of design, the POCO F8 Ultra is similar to the Xiaomi 15T series, including the way the camera island array is arranged. It comes in two colors. The highlighted Denim Blue with, as stated, a denim-like feel, and a simpler, yet also luxurious Black with a metallic finish.

The POCO F8 Ultra goes beyond the Pro, thanks to the new Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship chipset. This chipset is based on a 3nm N3P TSMC process, which is slightly better than the previous N3E process. To maintain such a powerful chipset, the phone comes with battery and charging speeds to match. Highlighted is a 6500mAh battery with the same 100W HyperCharge as the Pro. In terms of battery size, it’s only slightly bigger than the POCO F8 Pro and therefore, should not be drastic when it comes to drain or charging time. One noticeable difference is the inclusion of a rapid 50W wireless charging tech. If you happen to have a magnetic dock compatible with such fast speeds, you can use it as an alternative. Wireless charging is, however, slower than wired charging and makes your phone heat up faster.

The cameras on the Ultra isn’t just for show. It’s an upgrade over the Pro. See now, it uses a triple 50MP camera deck, including a more powerful Light Fusion 950 versus the Light Fusion 800 on the Pro. It’s a rebranded Omnivision OV50 with Xiaomi’s nice little touches. The telephoto camera now lets you zoom farther at 5x optical zoom versus the Pro’s 2.5x. Again, a first for the brand. The Ultrawide now makes more sense and captures more detail due to the rich 50MP sensor used. It’s most likely a Samsung JN5 sensor, but it’s still something to say the least.

As with the POCO F8 Pro, the POCO F8 Ultra uses a custom Xiaomi chip. Two, in fact. Both of these chips, the Surge T1S and T1+, are used to greatly improve signal detection and latency, lessening lag even in remote areas. The F8 Ultra features an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, 5G connectivity, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 7, IP68 water/dust resistance, and E-SIM compatibility.

The phone is now available for Filipino users, starting at PHP 39,999 (12/256) or PHP 42,999 (16/512). It is available currently through the brand’s official Lazada page.

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