Poco F9 Ultra review – a solid sophomore Android flagship

In 2025, Poco stepped into the flagship market with the Poco F8 Ultra, which was one of my favorite phones of the year. It was still cheaper than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or the iPhone 17 Pro Max but felt just as premium, proving that the Xiaomi sub-brand could deliver not just affordability but also high-quality devices. Now, it’s the turn of the Poco F9 Ultra, and I’ve spent the last week or so putting the phone through its paces.

Just like last year, I’m impressed. While the F9 Ultra is a bit more expensive than its predecessor, it feels a touch more worthy of its flagship status. In fact, it feels like it could be a proper rival to some of the top picks from our list of the best gaming phones, including the REDMAGIC 11 Pro. Still, that’s just the short version. Let’s dive into the details, shall we?

Price and availability

The Poco F9 Ultra and Poco F9 Pro are now available to order in the US, UK, and Europe. We’ve put all the pricing details in the table below:

There are some early bird deals currently on offer, so they are worth checking out. For this review, Poco sent us the 16GB + 1TB version in Dark Cherry.

Specs

Here are the Poco F9 Ultra’s specs:

Performance and gaming

A flagship phone needs a flagship chipset, and that’s exactly what the Poco F9 Ultra has, in the form of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. In my role as a hardware writer, I’ve tested out a bunch of phones powered by this processor in the last year, and not a single one of them has disappointed. Unsurprisingly, the same goes for the F9 Ultra, with a little bit of an exception.

When it comes to testing new phones, I always turn to Honkai Star Rail and PUBG Mobile, two of the best mobile games around that happen to be pretty demanding, especially if you dial up the in-game settings. In terms of how they ran, it went almost entirely as expected, which is great, except for some peculiar moments in Honkai Star Rail.

For the first five minutes of each play session, I got a bit of visual stuttering, which disappeared before long. It’s almost like the phone is warming up, which is unusual. Still, after ten minutes, the performance is fantastic, rivaling any other flagship you could name, if not surpassing it. It feels like you’re using a gaming phone rather than a regular flagship, and that’s the best compliment I can give.

The gameplay experience is made even better by some impressive audio through the Bose speaker in the back of the phone. Thermal management is also pretty reliable, thanks to Xiaomi’s LiquidCool Technology. Even after an hour of grinding in Honkai Star Rail, the F9 Ultra never seemed to get hotter than slightly lukewarm, which is acceptable, and it didn’t even burn up when downloading the full resources for the game, unlike some of the top picks from our guide to the best gaming phones.

Features and software

The Poco F9 Ultra runs the latest version of the Xiaomi HyperOS, based on Android 16, out of the box. Compared to Xiaomi software from previous generations, it’s much cleaner and easier to use. It’s still not quite up there with the likes of Apple and Samsung’s operating systems, but it’s user-friendly enough, and there’s not loads of bloatware to deal with when you first load up the phone. That’s always a good start.

In terms of AI features, which are everywhere in 2026, you’ve got the suite of Xiaomi HyperAI tools on this phone. That includes everything from image editing features to writing tools to dynamic wallpapers. If you’re into using AI, there’s enough there to enjoy, but it’s hidden in the settings menu, which might sound like a bad thing, but I think that’s a smart decision. I don’t want to be forced into using AI tools, but on the odd occasion I do need them, it makes it easier that they’re all in the same place.

On the gaming-specific front, the Poco F9 Ultra comes with Xiaomi’s Game Turbo software, which you can use to tinker with performance settings, frame rates, and game audio. It’s not quite as feature-heavy as the equivalent software from REDMAGIC, but it’s still handy, especially if, like me, you’re tracking in-game frames and other performance metrics. Finally, in terms of software, you get four Android updates with this phone, which is okay, but it’s not the seven years of Samsung and Google Pixel devices.

Design

Compared to some previous Poco phones, the F9 Ultra is pretty understated. In fact, it reminds me more of Xiaomi phones gone by rather than any other Poco models, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some previous Poco devices have been a little out-there – take, for instance, last year’s denim Poco F8 Ultra – and while I’ve found them charming, I know that I’ve got pretty extravagant tastes. Still, there’s a chance Poco might be playing it too safe here, but time will tell.

On the durability front, the F9 Ultra is IP68 rated, which is the gold standard for dust and waterproofing. It also packs a Gorilla Glass display, so no matter whether you drop this phone on the hard floor or in the sink – I like to listen to podcasts while I do the washing up – you shouldn’t have to worry about picking up a new one after.

Display and audio

The Poco F9 Ultra’s display is made for fun. Its 185Hz refresh rate is the sort of thing you’d expect from a gaming phone, not a regular flagship. That means you’re getting more frames per second in compatible games, including Call of Duty: Mobile, which can be the difference between winning and losing a game. Plus, it’s a 6.9-inch AMOLED, so you’re getting plenty of screen space, plus inky blacks and vivid colors. It’s a shame the 185Hz display doesn’t have any real use outside of gaming, but outside of that, I don’t know what else you could ask for.

As for audio, this is the area where the Poco F9 Ultra really shines. While other brands, such as Honor and Xiaomi, have taken up partnerships with camera brands, Poco has gone in a different direction, collaborating with Bose. That means you’ve got high-quality stereo speakers and a Bose subwoofer that makes the F9 Ultra ideal for gaming, especially with action and FPS games, as every explosion sounds like it’s, well, exploding out of your phone. It’s fantastic for immersion. There’s no headphone jack, but let’s be honest, that’s a bit of a rarity these days, so I can’t give the F9 Ultra much flak for that.

Cameras

The Poco F9 Ultra boasts a triple-camera setup on the back, including a 200MP main lens, plus a 50MP periscope telephoto and a 50MP ultra-wide camera. On paper, that’s a pretty impressive offering, but high megapixel counts don’t always make for great pictures. So, I did what I always do. I took a bunch of pictures of my dog and the local landscape to put the main lens to the test.

The result is pretty impressive, with one caveat. The pictures of my fluffy boy are high-quality, capturing the outdoor lighting well and the individual details of the white and black fur of his face. However, there does seem to be a bit of over-processing going on, especially with his body, with his fur taking on a sort of silvery color that isn’t true to real life. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s quite common even with flagship cameras, but it’s still not ideal.

The camera fares better with landscape pictures, like the one below. The results are always incredibly vibrant, which is what you want from a landscape image. I also tried the ultra-wide and periscope telephoto lenses, and they’re more than capable, even if using the telephoto lens requires a bit more tinkering than I’d like.

As for the 32MP front-facing camera, that’s also pretty decent. It slightly lacks in color compared to the back cameras, but it’s still high fidelity, so you can always spruce it up a bit with some editing. This is one area where the iPhone and Samsung alternatives win out, but not by much.

Battery

When it comes to Poco phones, or, for that matter, anything that falls under the Xiaomi umbrella, I’m almost always impressed with the battery life. The same goes for the F9 Ultra. Packing a massive 8,050 mAh battery, this thing just goes and goes, whether you’re streaming video, playing games, or mindlessly scrolling through social media. In real terms, an hour of gaming drains the battery by around 10-15%, depending on in-game settings, so you can easily get five or six hours of play out of the F9 Ultra with a bit of juice left to spare.

When it comes time to charge, this flagship doesn’t waste any time. If you’ve got a charging brick capable of 100W charging, you can juice the F9 Ultra from flat to full in under an hour. It also offers pretty rapid wireless charging at 50W, which, funnily enough, is quicker than the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 40W wired speed. Simply put, this is another battery life beast from Poco.

Should you buy the Poco F9 Ultra?

The Poco F9 Ultra is a great flagship, offering the premium experience for a lower price than some of its big-name Android rivals, such as Samsung and Google Pixel. It’s not exactly an innovator, but it covers all the bases, and its subtler design compared to other Poco phones could help it break into the mainstream. Where it really shines, though, is gaming, especially if you’re playing something capable of taking advantage of the 185Hz display.

There are a couple of quirks, such as some performance weirdness when first loading a game and image processing, but no phone is perfect, even rival Android flagships, and for the money, the F9 Ultra feels like pretty good value. Sadly, it’s just not as great value as last year’s F8 Ultra, and it’s not quite as charming, either.

Alternatives

If our Poco F9 Ultra review hasn’t sold you on the flagship, check out our alternative suggestions below.

Xiaomi 17T Pro

The Poco F9 Ultra and the Xiaomi 17T Pro are two very similar Android phones, but the Xiaomi has a little bit more for photography lovers and is a touch cheaper. Admittedly, the F9 Ultra is slightly more impressive on the performance front, but if you spend more time snapping photos than playing mobile games, it might be a better option. Check out our Xiaomi 17T review for more details.

iPhone 17 Pro

This is a pretty obvious alternative, but if you can afford to stretch your budget a bit further, the iPhone 17 Pro is another impressive flagship with a big display and top-tier performance. It’s also a touch more user-friendly, with Apple’s iOS software a bit cleaner than any Android alternative.