Poco F8 Ultra First Impressions: A Quirky, Powerful Phone That Nails Most Things

The Poco F8 Ultra is one of those smartphones that managed to pique my interest in the single day I’ve been lugging it around, and it’s honestly a bit sad that it won’t make it to the Indian market—especially given its potential in performance, battery life, and even the cameras to an extent. The F8 Ultra doesn’t stray far from its usual narrative and leans heavily into the performance-first approach it’s known for, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 sitting at its heart, but it does sprinkle in a few extra spices for added flavour.

For starters, the camera island at the back now has a companion in the form of a Bose subwoofer, and this time there’s also a 5x periscope telephoto camera. The battery is slightly bigger too, and so is the display when compared to the Poco F7 Ultra. That said, some things are missing, things that could have made it a well-rounded ultra phone.

Design and Speakers

The first thing that grabs your attention with the Poco F8 Ultra is, unsurprisingly, the rear subwoofer with that bold Bose branding. Once you get past that, you’ll notice the back panel—woven to look like denim jeans but actually made of vegan leather.

There’s also a plain black variant for anyone who prefers a more understated look. And it also comes with an IP68 rating for protection against dust and water. The weight distribution is well done, offering a balanced feel in hand, but at around 218 grams for the black model, it’s not exactly light. Naturally, this also means it’s not a one-hand-friendly phone.

The overall build quality is solid. The frame is aluminium, the buttons feel tactile, and the USB-C port sits at the bottom alongside a speaker and the SIM tray. There’s another speaker on the top, and of course, the third one sits at the back.

Speaking of which, it isn’t just a cosmetic flex—it actually serves a practical purpose. Sure, it’s not solving a problem per se, because the regular stereo setup is already quite rich, but this is the kind of add-on that genuinely betters the overall experience on the F8 Ultra.

With this addition, the phone now houses three speakers, but more importantly, it operates on a 2.1-channel speaker architecture, where the Bose unit handles low-frequency bass rather than simply boosting volume for the sake of loudness. And yes, the difference is immediately noticeable.

I played Heat Waves on the Google Pixel 10 Pro, the iQOO 15, and then the Poco F8 Ultra. The moment the bass kicks in at the start of the track, the F8 Ultra picks it up far better, delivering a fuller, deeper response when compared to the others. And, there’s no compromise on the mids or the highs.

Display

It’s a 6.9-inch HyperRGB AMOLED display with a resolution of 2608×1200 pixels, a claimed peak brightness of 3500 nits, and a layer of Poco Shield for protection against daily wear and tear. The panel is great for outdoor visibility, and it becomes easily legible when reading text.

In the few hours I spent with it, I mostly scrolled through social media and watched a couple of YouTube videos, and the colours looked good without going overboard on the saturation levels when set to the Original colour preset. If you prefer a bit more punch, the Vivid mode will suit you better. The bezels around the screen are also quite minimal on all sides, so the overall viewing experience is solid.

However, while Poco delivers one of its best displays here, it still misses out on an LTPO panel and uses LTPS instead. This means the refresh rate drops only to 60Hz when the phone is idle rather than going all the way down to 1Hz, which could have improved battery efficiency. The F8 Ultra isn’t exactly struggling in that department thanks to its massive battery, and this isn't really a dealbreaker for many, but an Ultra phone, meant to represent the best from the house of Poco, should ideally have the best hardware across every segment.

Cameras

The Poco F8 Ultra packs a triple 50MP camera setup at the back, led by a primary camera using the Light Fusion 950 sensor — the same one found on the Xiaomi 17 series. This is paired with an ultra-wide camera and a 5x periscope telephoto lens. On the front, you get a 32MP selfie camera.

I only had about a day with the F8 Ultra, but I still managed to shoot a decent batch of photos for an early look at its camera performance. Poco phones aren’t usually celebrated for their cameras, but the F8 Ultra genuinely surprised me with both its output and processing. Images strike a good balance in dynamic range, with shadows and highlights handled well. The shutter speed is quick enough that you won’t miss fast-moving subjects.

The colour processing does lean towards the punchier side, but it doesn’t cross into over-saturated territory. Daylight photos carry good detail too. The periscope camera, though, is what impressed me the most. The colour science remains consistent when switching from the main sensor, and this lens works exceptionally well for portraits. Edge detection was spot-on in every shot I took, whether it was people, flowers, or even architectural elements. Photos had good details even when trying to pixel peep, and the 5x optical zoom gives you a lot of room to experiment with close-up shots.

On the video front, the rear camera can record up to 8K at 30fps, and 4K goes up to 60fps. In the settings menu, there are also pro-level features like focus peaking, exposure verification, and more when shooting in manual focus.

The F8 Ultra supports HDR10+ video, but it misses out on Dolby Vision and even 4K 120fps recording support. These features are available on the OnePlus 15, which uses the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, so this isn’t a hardware limitation. It’s more about Poco’s prioritisation, which seems tilted towards performance and battery rather than pro-grade video recording.

Hardware and Software

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 inside the Poco F8 Ultra is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, so there are no compromises on the performance front. The Poco F series has already carved out a reputation for itself in the performance segment across markets, and the F8 Ultra continues to carry that legacy forward. The 8 Elite Gen 5’s power is kept in check by a 6,700mm² 3D dual-layer IceLoop system, which is essentially liquid cooling to manage thermals under load.

There are no surprises in day-to-day usage — the phone absolutely flies the moment you start scrolling. I didn’t have enough time to test its gaming performance, but I did manage to run a few benchmarks. With Performance Mode enabled, the Poco F8 Ultra scored 3,681,547 on AnTuTu. For context, the OnePlus 15 and iQOO 15, running the same chip, scored around 3.7 million and 3.8 million, respectively. On Geekbench 6, it posted a single-core score of 3624 and a multi-core score of 10,741. So, at least in synthetic tests for now, the F8 Ultra isn’t leaving any stone unturned.

On the software side, the F8 Ultra ships with Xiaomi HyperOS 3, based on Android 16, out of the box. There’s also a 6,500mAh silicon–carbide battery powering the device, with support for 100W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 22.5W reverse wireless charging. It’s too early to give a definitive verdict on battery life, but the F8 Ultra started its day at around 2 PM on a full charge, and after multiple camera tests, video recording, and a bit of YouTube, it still sat at 60 per cent at 1:30 AM. So it’s probably safe to say that even with heavy usage, this should comfortably last an entire day.

Verdict

The Poco F8 Ultra has the performance chops, the battery endurance, a surprisingly capable camera setup, and even a quirky-but-useful Bose subwoofer to stand out. In many ways, it has the potential to go head-to-head with the OnePlus 15, iQOO 15, and Realme GT 8 Pro — and that’s exactly why it’s a shame this phone won’t make it to the Indian market. For now, the F8 Ultra remains a powerful reminder that Poco still knows how to make a proper flagship killer when it wants to.