I’ve been a Samsung owner for more than a decade, happily settled into the ecosystem and never venturing much outside it. The POCO F9 Ultra made me rethink my ways. It’s a fantastic flagship device that stands shoulder to shoulder with many of the greats. While it’s not perfect, there’s enough here, especially at the price point, that makes the POCO F9 Ultra worth the switch.
The POCO F9 Ultra is POCO’s latest foray into the flagship market. The company’s phones have generally been known as more entry-level devices, with prices to match. Last year’s F8 Ultra was already an impressive attempt to compete with the biggest names in the market, and the F9 Ultra further refines that flagship approach.
On the component side, the POCO F9 Ultra comes out swinging. It sports a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform alongside a dedicated VisionBoost D8 chipset. In everyday use, the phone feels fast and responsive, easily multitasking between numerous apps. When supported, the combination of chipsets can push gaming performance to 185 fps, while AI Super Resolution helps produce brighter, more vibrant colours.
“The POCO F9 Ultra made me rethink my ways.”
Whether I was watching YouTube, surfing the web or playing Fortnite, the POCO F9 Ultra consistently delivered. All of this is supported by POCO’s biggest battery yet, coming in at 8,050 mAh. It is a juggernaut of a battery. On balanced settings and with moderate use, I got two full days without needing a charge. Switching to ultra-performance settings reduced that figure, but I still managed almost a day and a half of use, including gaming and watching shows.
A battery this large is a major selling point, especially for anyone who wants to go longer between charges. Its HyperCharge system supports 100 W wired and 50 W wireless charging, along with 27 W wired and 22.5 W wireless reverse charging if a friend needs some extra power from the POCO F9 Ultra’s massive battery.
The POCO F9 Ultra also has a massive display, measuring 6.9 inches with a 185 Hz POCO HyperRGB panel. The screen is crisp and clear, and while it may not reach the same heights as some competing flagships, it does not feel far behind. It can reach up to 4,500 nits of peak brightness and up to 10,000 nits with HDR content, helping colours pop while keeping blacks impressively deep.
I have also really enjoyed using the new Xiaomi Vision Care feature, which automatically adjusts display settings based on the time of day to help reduce eye strain. The phone also uses Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, helping protect the screen from everyday scratches.
The POCO F9 Ultra comes in two colourways, Dark Cherry and Black, with three configurations: 12 GB + 256 GB, 16 GB + 512 GB and 16 GB + 1 TB. The metal finish feels cool to the touch, while the Dark Cherry model looks elegant and refined. It also feels premium and is surprisingly resistant to fingerprints and smudges. In the hand, the phone feels excellent, with enough weight to feel substantial without ever becoming cumbersome.
Audio is another strong point for the POCO F9 Ultra. It features symmetrical stereo speakers with an independent subwoofer and Sound by Bose technology. Music played directly from the phone sounds clean and punchy, and the overall quality is better than on nearly any other phone I have used. At times, it even approaches the sound quality of dedicated portable speakers. That performance extends to video as well, with dialogue coming through clearly and remaining easy to understand.
The camera system is another area that has improved compared with previous generations. The F9 Ultra features POCO’s first 200 MP main camera, backed by a 50 MP ultra-wide camera and a 32 MP selfie camera. The main sensor also includes a dedicated 200 MP mode for capturing additional detail. In good lighting, photos are crisp and clean, with a broad range of colours that generally look accurate to the subject. The 50 MP ultra-wide camera is no slouch either, with a noticeable visual difference when switching between the two lenses.
For everyday users, the camera array is more than capable. It struggles more in low-light situations without the flash, where images can become softer and introduce more visual noise. Using the flash helps mitigate that to some extent. The 20x AI Ultra Zoom also performs reasonably well, retaining a good amount of detail in photos taken from a distance. The results may not match those of some ultra-high-end competitors, but they come surprisingly close.
The major software piece with the cameras is the live cinematography, which gives you a few presets to let you play more with angles and focal shifts. They’re fun to use but can be a bit confusing to understand, where watching the live preview back gives you shots that zoom out quickly or give the photo an ultra HD live. It’s a bit gimmicky but works well enough.
“The POCO F9 Ultra should be able to handle nearly any mobile game thrown at it.”
On the gaming front, the POCO F9 Ultra does a solid job. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time looks and runs great, but I encountered a few issues while playing Fortnite. The frame rate held steady at 60 fps, but even at higher graphics settings, there was considerable pop-in.
The device also became warm fairly quickly. The POCO F9 Ultra features a POCO 3D IceLoop system designed to dissipate heat evenly, and while the phone never became uncomfortable to hold, the warmth was noticeable. Heat aside, the POCO F9 Ultra should be able to handle nearly any mobile game thrown at it.
While there are some drawbacks compared with other flagships, particularly when it comes to the camera system, the POCO F9 Ultra is still a formidable competitor. It matches or exceeds much of the competition in several areas, especially with its massive battery. The POCO F9 Ultra is not a cheap phone, but it also comes in noticeably cheaper than many competing flagship devices.
Overall, the POCO F9 Ultra is a fantastic phone that gets a lot right. Its massive battery can last multiple days with moderate use, while the physical design feels sturdy and elegant. The Sound by Bose speakers also pack an impressive sonic punch. The cameras are the best I have seen from POCO, making it easy to capture good-looking photos. The price is another major advantage, making the POCO F9 Ultra a compelling option for anyone looking for a new flagship device.
