Today, on the exotic island of Bali, Xiaomi unveiled the Poco F8 Pro and Poco F8 Ultra smartphones and the Poco Pad M1 and Poco Pad X1 tablets. However, these are not entirely new designs, but rather clones of models known from China, lacking their most important feature.
The launch of the Poco F8 Pro and Poco F8 Ultra is essentially a formality, as these are rebrandings of already known models, not entirely new designs. The Poco Pad M1 tablet is a clone of the Redmi Pad 2 Pro, the Poco Pad X1 is an equivalent of the Xiaomi Pad 7, while the Poco F8 Pro and Poco F8 Ultra are equivalents of the well-known Chinese models Redmi K90 and Redmi K90 Pro Max. Unfortunately, the aforementioned smartphones, transforming into POCOs, lost their key advantage: high-capacity batteries. However, during the event, Poco announced a partnership with Bose, a leader in audio. Speakers from this brand have found their way into the new Pocos, just as they previously did in the aforementioned Redmis.
Poco F8 Pro
Poco F8 Pro features a flat 6.59-inch LTPO display with 2K resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 3500 nits of brightness, along with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certifications and 2560Hz PWM dimming. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, supported by LPDDR5X and UFS 4.1 memory, and managed by Android 16 with HyperOS 3. The punch-hole display houses a 20-megapixel selfie camera, while on the back you'll find a 50-megapixel Light Hunter 800 main camera with optical image stabilization and an f/1.88 aperture, as well as another 50-megapixel camera – this time with a 2.5x telephoto lens (f/2.2). A modest 8-megapixel wide-angle camera (f/2.2, with a 120-degree field of view) rounds out the package. Power is provided by a 6210 mAh battery, which is unfortunately significantly smaller than in the Chinese original, but still charges at 100W. The smartphone also features stereo speakers with the Bose logo, an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, NFC, and an IP68/IP69 water resistance rating.
photo: Xiaomi
Poco F8 Ultra
Poco F8 Ultra has a larger, 6.9-inch OLED screen with 2K resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and a brightness range of 1 to 3500 nits. It also boasts an additional subwoofer on the back – so you could say it has a semblance of a 2.1 stereo speaker system. As a more powerful model, the Ultra also features a more efficient processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, still supported by LPDDR5X and UFS 4.1 memory. The battery is again smaller than in its Redmi counterpart, but its capacity is larger than the Pro variant – 6500 mAh, still with 100-watt wired charging, but with the addition of 50-watt induction. This model now features three 50-megapixel cameras. The main camera has a 1/1.31" Light Fusion 950 sensor, an f/1.88 aperture, and optical stabilization. The other lenses are a wide-angle lens (f/2.4, 120 degrees) and a periscopic telephoto lens with a 5x zoom (f/3.0 with OIS). The selfie camera is 32-megapixel.
photo: Xiaomi
Poco Pad M1 and Poco Pad X1
Along with the smartphones, the new Poco Pad M1 tablet was also unveiled. It features a 12.1-inch 2.5K display with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and a quad-speaker system enhanced with Dolby Atmos. It is powered by a 12,000 mAh battery, and the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor combined with the Xiaomi HyperOS system platform ensures decent performance. The equipment is complemented by two 8-megapixel cameras. The second of the new tablets, the Poco Pad X1, has an 11.2-inch 3.2K screen with a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz and is powered by a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 processor. It also features an 8850 mAh battery and HyperOS. Its global price is $399.
photo: Xiaomi
photo: Xiaomi
Prices, availability, and launch offer
Poco F8 Ultra is available in two colours – Denim Blue and Black. Price of the Poco F8 Ultra starts at $729 for the 12GB + 256GB model, while the 16GB + 512GB variant is priced at $799. During the early-bird offer, the 12GB + 256GB version is available for $679, and the 16GB + 512GB option is offered at $729. Poco F8 Pro is available in three colour variants: – Titanium Silver, Black, and Blue. Poco F8 Pro price is set at $579 for the 12GB + 256GB variant and $629 for the 12GB + 512GB option. However, with the early-bird offer, the 12GB + 256GB version costs $529, while the 12GB + 512GB option is available for $579. Additionally, when purchasing both models directly on the manufacturer's website, users can add the Xiaomi 90W Hypercharge Combo charger to their cart for an additional $13, and POCO Pad M1 for $220 (recommended price: $329). Poco Pad M1 is available in two colour versions – Blue and Grey – in the 8+256 GB variant. Poco Pad M1 price is set at $329 for the single 8GB RAM + 256GB storage model. It is available at an early bird price of $279. Poco Pad X1 price is set at $399 for the sole 8GB RAM + 512GB storage variant. As part of an early bird, the tech firm is offering the new tablet at a discounted price of $349. Additionally, both POCO F8 Ultra and POCO F8 Pro come with a suite of premium benefits, including a 4-month free trial of Spotify Premium, a 3-month trial of YouTube Premium, and a 6-month trial of 100GB of Google One cloud storage. This offer is available to new users only and may vary by model.
