Poco F8 Ultra: High-end power with Bose sound and denim design

The Poco F8 Ultra replaces its predecessor after only eight months due to a change in strategy at Poco. The smartphone impresses with its high-quality workmanship in black (fibre glass) or denim blue (nanomaterial). At 8.3 mm thick and with IP68 protection, it remains stable, creaks minimally and feels grippy. The USB 3.2 port (up to 768 MB/s) supports image output, Wi-Fi 7 (without 6 GHz) and dual SIM (Nano/eSIM) are on board. HyperOS 3.0 on Android 16 promises four years of system updates plus two years of security updates, but is burdened by bloatware and advertising. Sustainability remains superficial, and repairs by the user are impossible.

Mobile, GNSS (dual-band) and Wi-Fi reception are excellent, and Satfix is accurate both indoors and outdoors. Telephony shines in quiet environments with good voice quality, but noise cancellation is only mediocre in noisy conditions.

Three 50 MP sensors (Light Fusion 950 main, ultra-wide, zoom with OIS) deliver balanced daylight photos, good low-light shots and enable macro photography. Videos are possible up to 8K/30 FPS or 4K/60 FPS. The 120 Hz AMOLED display (416 PPI, 3,500 cd/m²) is bright, colour-accurate and remains easy to read outdoors.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with 12 or 16 GB RAM, Adreno 840 and VisionBoost-D8 stands for pure performance, but throttles under continuous load (up to 50 °C) and overheats in stress tests. The Bose speakers with subwoofer set new standards. The 6,500 mAh battery lasts for 22 hours of Wi-Fi use and can be charged via cable (100 W: 35 min.) or wirelessly (50 W).

The Poco F8 Ultra offers high-end performance, excellent sound and solid battery life at a fair price. However, weaknesses in cooling, updates and bloatware can be a buzzkill.