At a look
Professional’s Ranking
Execs
- Premium design touches
- Nice efficiency
- Tremendous-fast charging
- Respectable show and audio system
Cons
- OS contains baked-in advertisements
- Software program assist might be longer
- Middling cameras
- No wi-fi charging
Our Verdict
The Poco F8 Professional is a delicate enchancment on each the F7 Professional and F7 Extremely. It serves up a extra mature design for the model, stable efficiency, a pleasant show, first rate stereo audio system and good longevity with quick charging. Nonetheless, the software program comes with a studying curve, plus a number of advertisements, and the cameras are useful however unexciting.
Worth When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Finest Pricing Right now
Finest Costs Right now: Xiaomi Poco F8 Professional
The Poco F8 Extremely is the sub-brand’s new flagship-class entry, sporting Qualcomm’s finest and brightest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, an enormous 6.9-inch show, and a pair of.1-channel Bose-tuned audio, with a inbuilt subwoofer – but it surely didn’t launch alone.
Arriving alongside it, the Poco F8 Professional additionally embodies the mark’s penchant for reasonably priced energy, however in a extra compact kind and with a fair lower cost tag.
It’s solely been eight months because the Poco F7 collection dropped, so that you’d hope this subsequent technology had some noteworthy upgrades to shout about. Whereas it’s clear that the Extremely takes the cake – with Poco framing the telephone as its first true all-round flagship – the F8 Professional builds extra straight on the muse of the Poco F7 Extremely. It options the identical chip, however matches it with new show tech, higher audio, improved cameras, quicker charging and Xiaomi’s newest HyperOS consumer expertise.
Design & Construct
- Glass-backed design
- 199 grams
- IP68 rated
Given how usually copycats crop up within the cell house, you’d be forgiven for pondering that Poco noticed the iPhone 17 Professional‘s broad new digital camera plateau and figured that was the aspect to crib to outline the look of the F8 collection. However wind the clock again additional and also you’ll see that it’s basically the opposite approach round.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Each the iPhone and the F8 Professional comply with within the footsteps of final 12 months’s Poco F6 Professional. Though this mannequin has a extra squared-off kind, it in any other case appears to be like loads like its 2025 successor.
The F8 Professional options extra curves than the F6 Professional, particularly the corners of its body and digital camera island, all of which sport matching radii for a balanced, premium look. The perimeters of that straight-sided aluminium body additionally characteristic some beneficiant rounding, that means it’s lots snug within the hand, even when that makes it look thick (it’s nonetheless solely 8mm) on this 12 months of super-slim smartphones.
It’s one of the crucial grown-up trying and refined of the model’s telephones I’ve dealt with
Whereas it isn’t as thrilling to take a look at as some earlier Poco entries, it’s one of the crucial grown-up trying and refined of the model’s telephones I’ve dealt with. For as soon as, there’s no signature brilliant yellow colourway, however as a substitute three muted tones, in black, Titanium Silver (pictured) and (pale) blue.
What additionally helps give the telephone a premium really feel is its milled glass again which, regardless of a lovely floor distinction of diffuse and reflective finishes, is a single piece, giving it a cleaner look. It’s a primary for the model.
The mirror-like portion surrounding the digital camera has the potential to assist body up rear-sensor selfies too, but it surely smudges simply. It’s additionally the one part of the telephone’s again that’s uncovered once you slap on the included darkish gray TPU case.
Tactile steel buttons are simply accessible alongside the telephone’s proper aspect, and beneath lies the SIM slot. However this mannequin and the F8 Extremely each embrace a long-requested Poco characteristic within the type of eSIM assist. IP68 water and dirt resistance carries over from the F7 collection as nicely.
Display & Audio system
- 6.59in 120Hz Poco HyperRGB Show
- Protected by Gorilla Glass 7i
- Stereo audio system w/ Bose-tuned audio
At 6.9-inches, the Poco F7 Extremely boasts one of many largest-ever shows on a Xiaomi telephone. By comparability, the F8 Professional’s 6.59-inch panel is way extra compact and pocketable, even when that’s on the expense of immersion.
Not solely is it set inside one of many the thinnest bezels we’ve ever seen on a Poco telephone (once more, aiding the telephone’s premium really feel), however the F8 collection debuts the corporate’s new HyperRGB Show tech.
The readability and sharpness of the Poco F7 Extremely’s display screen and that of the the Galaxy S25 Extremely have been comparable
It apparently makes use of an unconventional sub-pixel construction, paired to a brand new M10 materials (which the corporate states has 11.4% improved luminance effectivity), to supply higher readability than a traditional PenTile show, whereas utilizing 22.3% much less energy than the screens discovered on the F7 line.
In real-world phrases, the corporate claims that its tech delivers the readability of a 2K OLED display screen, regardless of solely utilizing a 1.5K panel, and in side-by-side comparisons with the sharpest telephone I needed to hand – the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (498ppi versus the Pro’s 419ppi) – I’d have to agree.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Aside from a visible difference in pixel structure under magnification, the clarity and sharpness of the Poco F7 Ultra’s screen and that of the the Galaxy S25 Ultra were comparable. Under scrutiny, font serifs look just as sharp, with the panel’s wider contrast, colour and brightness proving excellent as well.
The F8 Pro’s panel supports 12-bit colour depth and a peak brightness output of 3500nits (with a panel-wide peak of 2000nits), meaning it’s a great choice for enjoying HDR content. The ability to drop down to just 1-nit and ‘all-day’ DC dimming help with eye comfort in low light scenarios, paired with some assistive viewing features in the phone’s settings, such as Reading Mode.
As for touch response (how fast the screen reacts to your touch inputs), the phone defaults to 480Hz most of the time, but has a dedicated 2560Hz boosted option for lightning-fast, precision response when gaming (via the OS’s Game Turbo overlay).
Practically speaking, I never ran into tangible input lag or frame drops swiping around the general UI, while Poco’s gaming optimisations here led to a rare winning streak when I settled into successive rounds of Call of Duty: Mobile.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
The only real tell-tale sign that the F8 Pro isn’t using a true flagship-class display is in its refresh rate. While the phone’s panel tops out at a ProMotion-rivalling 120Hz, Poco hasn’t used an LTPO panel, meaning the phone lacks a true dynamic refresh rate, and isn’t as power efficient as an otherwise equivalent panel.
Swiping around the F8 Pro is wonderfully smooth and responsive (the majority of the native UI runs at a peak 120Hz), but when scaling down in certain scenarios, the refresh rate was only able to jump in large increments, bottoming out at 30Hz for experiences like the Always-On Display. Compare that to phones with LTPO panels, which can drop right down to 1Hz and scale power drain far more dynamically as a result.
On the flip side, the move from an optical to an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is another high-end inclusion, and pleasantly instant when pressed, even when the display is off.
As for Poco’s Wet Touch 2.0 algorithm, the Pro handled typing with static droplets on the screen and wet fingers well, but when I tilted the phone more upright and tried to type while a few drops ran down the display, the error rate did increase; suggesting reliable typing and touch input in rain is still beyond the tech.
As for the audio experience, not only does it boast Bose-tuned audio but it supports 2.1-channel output thanks to an integrated subwoofer. That’s something I’ve only previously encountered on a phone by way of an external accessory, with the ROG Phone 7 series’ AeroActive Cooler 7. With the F8 Ultra, the subwoofer is integrated next to the rear camera array. On the F8 Pro, it isn’t there at all.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
You do still get proper stereo speakers on the Pro, tuned by the audio experts at Bose, but the phone delivers a pedestrian audio experience compared to its Ultra-branded sibling.
The OnePlus 15 is another recent release that’s touted its stereo speaker abilities, and in side by side comparisons, I’d best describe the output from the Poco as ‘loud and clear’. There’s a degree of control with a Dynamic and a Balanced sound profile to choose between, as well as scene-specific tuning for different scenarios: music, games, movies and clips (eg.TikToks, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts).
Only at the peak of its loudspeaker output does clarity genuinely break down, but – as with almost every phone – lacklustre bass is the most obvious shortcoming.
Specs & Performance
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
- 12GB RAM and up to 512GB storage
- Supports Xiaomi Offline Communication
A market-defying price/performance balance has always been at the heart of Poco’s strategy.
While the F8 Ultra is one of the most affordable phones running Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, the F8 Pro – especially with Poco’s early-bird pricing in effect (at the time of writing), is a solid value proposition for a phone with the same chip that powers the majority of 2025’s Android flagships.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
As it’s such a tried and true piece of silicon at this point, and Poco has paired it with a decent ‘3D triple-layer’ passive cooling system (promising 40% better thermal conductivity than its predecessor), both benchmarking and real-world results are – as expected – excellent. The phone proves itself more than equipped to deliver on demanding apps, multitasking and high-end games for at least the next year or so.
My time testing the display’s frame and response rates also helped evaluate the F8 Pro’s real-world gaming performance. I enjoyed solid, consistent 60fps output with the likes of Zenless Zone Zero and Call of Duty: Mobile, even over extended periods of time.
This was helped by the system’s WildBoost performance mode (also called Ultimate mode), which supports frame stability, scaling and recovery under heavy gameplay loads. The F8 Pro did get warm when gaming, but never to a concerning degree.
Wider system performance is also supported by 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB or 512GB of fast UFS 4.1 storage, up to 12GB of which can be reallocated as additional RAM using the phone’s Memory Extension feature (6GB is allocated out of the box).
Poco F8 Pro benchmarks
While there’s a clear performance gap with the new wave of 8 Elite Gen 5-powered flagships now coming in, the F8 Pro is otherwise just as capable as any recent Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered phone. Benchmarks place it right in line with the likes of the OnePlus 13 (producing slightly weaker single-core CPU scores, but marginally stronger multi-core and graphical scores).
Despite my real-world experiences showing minimal tangible performance degradation during extended gameplay, 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme stress test logged a performance drop of about 45% across 20 minutes of successive runs. In comparison the Galaxy S25 Ultra that’s currently my daily driver scored similarly, with a drop of 43%.
Xiaomi often supports main chips from other manufacturers in its devices with its own silicon, which is the case in the Poco F8 Pro. Inside the F8 Pro, the company’s Surge T1+ Tuner promises 42% better cellular strength, and up to 31% better Bluetooth and Wi-Fi performance.
Both members of the F8 series also join Xiaomi’s Offline Communication network (which internationally only includes the Xiaomi 15T and 15T Pro, at the time of writing). The F8 Pro is rated to work at a range of up to one kilometre (although the company says it managed to get it working at closer to 1.5km).
Cameras
- 50Mp main, 8Mp ultrawide and 50Mp 2.5x telephoto sensors
- 20Mp selfie camera
- First Pro entry in Poco F series w/ optical telephoto zoom
The F8 Pro sports a similar array to the Poco F7 Pro: 50Mp Light Fusion 800 main, 8Mp 120º ultrawide, and 20Mp front-facing sensors. For the first time on a Poco F Pro, these are supplemented with a telephoto sensor with optical zoom: a modest 2.5x 50Mp snapper (with a 5x lossless crop) in this case.
Camera performance is often lacking with Poco’s phones and here, it’s probably the most tangible set of downgrades from the F8 Ultra. Poco’s top dog features a 32Mp front facer (as on the F7 Ultra), along with a trio of 50Mp rear snappers. The lead of these boasts a larger 1/1.31in sensor, compared to the F8 Pro’s 1/1.55in main.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
In natural light, the phone’s main snapper is more than adequate for sharing to social media, but it seems to rely too heavily on post-processing, especially in terms of pushing colour vibrancy for the punchier elements in a scene. I found myself using the 2x crop on the main sensor more than I usually would with other phones, as a result of the evident softness towards the edge of frame when shooting at 1x.
I like that Xiaomi’s camera science tends to let shadows be shadows (unlike, say, Google’s), but on more affordable phones like this, that’s also where you see the limits of the phone’s dynamic range. Low light performance only exacerbates existing shortcomings, with post-processing working overtime to retain detail and accurate colours when there isn’t enough ambient light, with the phone also resorting to extending the shutter in brighter conditions.
There’s also an obvious inconsistency in contrast, colour and dynamic range between the phone’s three rear sensors. The ultrawide is the weakest of the three, and discrepancies become more apparent when shooting video (the jump when switching between lenses while recording is also particularly jarring on this phone).
For all its faults, the F8 Pro camera system is fine for everyday snapping
Super Macro is seemingly broken, requiring a 50cm minimum focus distance that means you’re effectively taking a wide shot. The main sensor actually lets you get much closer without switching out of the default Photo mode, serving up far better results.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
However, for all its faults, the F8 Pro camera system is fine for everyday snapping. I like the quality of the artificial bokeh in Portrait Mode, and the fact you can dial it up and down both before and after capture. There’s also a pleasing amount of centre-frame detail in most shots; even from that 20Mp front-facer, which is otherwise middling at best.
Video capture and up to 4K 60fps (or 8K 30fps) isn’t too bad either, with good stability and even the option of manual control.
Battery Life & Charging
- 6210mAh battery
- 100W wired charging
- No power adapter in the box
There’s a marginally larger battery with this generation of Pro, boasting a sizeable 6210mAh cell (up from 6000mAh on the F7 Pro), paired with faster 100W ‘HyperCharge’ wired charging (up from 90W). Both are welcome upgrades that result in the same promised fast-charge to 100% in 37 minutes.
Poco doesn’t include a charger in-box, but as I had an official 120W Xiaomi charger to hand, I put its claims to the test. After flipping on Top Speed charging in the battery settings menu, the fastest I was able to recharge the F8 Pro was 45 minutes which, while short of Poco’s promised figure, is still blisteringly fast. That’s especially so when compared to plenty of pricier phones with smaller batteries.
This is the sort of phone you don’t need to worry about plugging in at night
Fast charging generates a fair amount of heat and I assume that’s what caused my unit to slow a little. Nonetheless, three-quarters full after just 30 minutes mean this is the sort of phone you don’t need to worry about plugging in at night – provided you’re willing to pay extra for a top-speed power adapter (Xiaomi’s 120W charger costs £59.99 from Amazon within the UK).
A telephone with a battery breaking 6000mAh was once the protect of gaming telephones, however over the past twelve months, we’ve seen extra basic high-profile telephones with comparatively massive cells. Whereas the newest silicon-carbon tech appears solely to be discovered on the F8 Extremely, the Professional’s longevity remains to be respectable.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
A rating of 16 hours 24 minutes in our PC Mark Battery 3.0 check is on the higher finish of the dimensions, primarily based on different benchmarked outcomes, however as with virtually each Xiaomi telephone we evaluate, real-world efficiency is extra pedestrian, with display screen time of round 9.75 hours. That also means the Poco F8 Professional generally is a two-day telephone with cautious use, but it surely doesn’t final so long as similarly-specced telephones with equally sized batteries.
Take a look at our rundown of the perfect battery life telephones for options.
Software program & AI
- HyperOS 3 atop Android 16 at launch
- Some bloat and in-app advertisements
- 4 years OS + 6 years safety replace assist
Whereas numerous producers’ flavours of Android poach options from iOS on a reasonably common foundation (and Apple typically poaches again), Poco’s HyperOS does little to cover the “inspiration” behind a few of its aesthetic and useful UI selections. The F8 Professional is among the many first of the corporate’s telephones to run the newest HyperOS 3.0 out the field (on prime of Android 16).
Past behind-the-scenes enhancements and extra cinematic lock screens, the obvious addition to model 3.0 is a little bit one thing referred to as ‘HyperIsland’. Simply as OnePlus and Oppo added the Stay Alerts capsule to OxygenOS 15, Honor has the Magic Capsule and Samsung’s newest ‘Now’-branded additions embody a familiar-looking Stay Notifications capsule, HyperIsland is Xiaomi’s/Poco’s variation on iOS’ Dynamic Island.
Whether or not enjoying music, operating a timer or recording a voice memo, HyperIsland serves up an energetic notification across the F8 Professional’s entrance digital camera that expands with a faucet, providing fast entry to key controls or info, in addition to a shortcut to the total app expertise with a further faucet if desired.
I used to be rightly apprehensive about Xiaomi’s/Poco’s penchant for baking advertisements into its software program expertise
HyperIsland’s implementation does rating factors for additionally letting you swipe between these energetic notifications, if a number of actions are operating concurrently. This makes interacting with all of them fast and simple, with out pulling you out of no matter you’re doing.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Past this, those that’ve used any MIUI or HyperOS-powered telephone from the previous few years will probably discover the remainder of the expertise acquainted. There’s plenty of management over the feel and appear of the consumer expertise, which makes it each highly effective and difficult to grasp. There’s additionally a bent to inexplicably obscure the odd native Android characteristic, with choices like Additional Dim needlessly hidden, requiring third-party apps to change into simply accessible once more.
I used to be rightly apprehensive about Xiaomi’s/Poco’s penchant for baking advertisements into its software program expertise. Not like its extra premium sibling, past the varied bits of first- and third-party bloat that comes preloaded on the F8 Professional (OneDrive, Reserving.com, Temu and a litany of ad-addled puzzle video games), the corporate’s App Mall app retailer can also be always serving notifications, pushing you to obtain apps you didn’t search or ask for.
Fortunately, there’s nothing stopping you disabling App Mall’s notifications, however the prevalence of baked-in advertisements on a tool that Poco markets as certainly one of its newest premium entries sours the expertise.
The most recent flavour of Google’s Gemini Stay with Digicam Share comes as a part of the expertise on the Professional.
Poco’s promise of 4 generations of OS and 6 years of safety updates throughout the F8 Professional’s lifespan is ample, however lags behind market leaders like Apple, Google and Samsung – all of which promise 6 to 7 years of each for many of their gadgets – upping the value-for-money consider each occasion.
Worth & Availability
Each the Poco F8 Professional and Poco F8 Extremely made their debut at a particular occasion in Bali on November 26, and went on sale proper afterwards.
For the package deal on supply, Poco’s well-established Early Chook pricing renders the Poco F8 Professional one thing of a steal in case you purchased on or earlier than December 9, 2025, with the telephone ranging from simply £399 / €519. After that preliminary discount, costs rise to £549 / €649 / $579 for the bottom 256GB mannequin, and £599 / €699 / $629 for the 512GB variant. It’s nonetheless respectable, contemplating what else is on the market at those self same worth factors.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Xiaomi (and by extension Poco) have been very beneficiant with their buy provides of late, that means these selecting up an F8 Professional proper now don’t simply get the telephone, however can profit from a collection of bonuses.
These embody a further money-off voucher (value £50), a trade-in low cost of an additional £50 (when shopping for a Professional within the UK), double Mi Factors, three months of Spotify Premium, six months of a Google One plan (with 100GB of cloud storage), three months of YouTube Premium, and one free display screen substitute throughout the first six months after buy. Like I mentioned, beneficiant.
It’s a stable foil to the likes of the iPhone 16e and the Google Pixel 10, with more power, functionality, and better battery and charging chops. The Pixel wins out on camera performance, while both serve up longer software support than the Poco, but it’s otherwise a well-priced alternative to such premium mid-rangers.
If you want to buy the phone outright, you can pick it up directly from Mi.com as well as retailers like Amazon from £549, and you might additionally pair it with a brand new SIM-only deal.
Must you purchase the Poco F8 Professional?
A clear, grown-up design, a stable audiovisual expertise, first rate battery life and among the quickest charging available on the market, all in a comparatively compact package deal. The place the Extremely surpasses the expectations the model has created, the Poco F8 Professional merely meets them and, for the value, that’s OK.
For those who’re the type of one who upgrades your telephone each two to 3 years, and also you’re after a succesful all-rounder that doesn’t excel in anyone key space, the F8 Professional is an inoffensive choice that’ll serve you nicely. That’s offered you will get to grips with the corporate’s software program, and aren’t going to be bothered by the baked-in advertisements you’ll run into on occasion.
Specs
- HyperOS 3.0 atop Android 16
- 6.59-inch 120Hz, 19.5:9, 1156 x 2510, HyperRGB LTPS OLED
- Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
- 12GB RAM (LPDDR5X)
- 256GB or 512GB storage (UFS 4.1)
- Cameras:
- 50Mp 1/1.55-inch ƒ/1.88 Gentle Fusion 800 principal sensor w/ OIS
- 8Mp ƒ/2.2 15mm 120º ultra-wide
- 50Mp ƒ/2.2 60mm 2.5x telephoto
- 20Mp selfie digital camera
- As much as 8K @ 30fps video recording
- Stereo audio system w/ Bose-tuned audio
- Twin-SIM (together with eSIM)
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
- Bluetooth 5.4
- 6210mAh battery
- 100W HyperCharge wired charging
- 157.47 x 75.25 x 8mm
- IP68 licensed
- 199 grams
- Colors: Titanium Silver, black, blue