Poco’s X8 Pro was an interesting product at launch when it was announced on 17 March. It offered gaming-grade hardware at a competitive mid-range price of Rs. 32,999. But as per the current trend with smartphone manufacturers. This was just the introductory price. The smartphone’s price (thanks to rising memory prices) was revised once more to Rs. 34,999, and just a few days ago, it has now settled at Rs. 36,999. In the meantime, Xiaomi, on June 16, strategically decided to debut its Turbo series in India, with the launch of its Turbo 5. The Turbo 5 appears identical to the Poco X8 Pro launched a few months ago, but comes with one notable difference: its battery capacity. With the Poco X8 Pro stuck with a slightly lower-capacity battery, should you even bother getting one? Turns out you might! Read on to find out why.
Poco X8 Pro Design
Before the Poco X8 Pro and the Redmi Turbo 5 were released in India, Xiaomi announced the Redmi Turbo 5 in January in China. So, there’s no doubt that Poco has borrowed its design from the Redmi Turbo 5. Regardless, both of these devices look and feel identical. The Poco X8 Pro is a wee bit lighter at 201g (versus 204g) because it has a slightly lower-capacity battery.
The Poco X8 Pro’s design is both minimalist and mature. Poco did not hold back in terms of quality, and the metal frame (made from aluminium) is perfectly polished to ensure that there are no sharp corners or edges. We received the White finish, which has a finely textured stripe running on one side of the flat rear panel, which is made of glass. Given that this is a device meant for gamers, Poco has managed to include some fancy RGB-like lighting inside the camera rings on the back. While these do look cool, they aren’t practical by any means, as explained in our Redmi Turbo 5 review.
Despite the minor difference in weight, the Redmi Turbo 5 (left) and Poco X8 Pro (right) look and feel identical
The phone has an excellent IP69 rating for dust and water resistance that goes well with the premium theme that Poco is trying to achieve with this product. Given the phone’s current premium price, there is indeed very little to complain about in terms of design.
Poco X8 Pro Performance
The Poco X8 Pro has a sharp and sufficiently bright 120Hz AMOLED panel
The phone’s flat display (covered in Gorilla Glass 7i) gets sufficiently bright outdoors. It is also Widevine L1 certified for streaming and can play back content at Full HD resolution on Netflix. This display is also HDR, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certified. So, you can also enjoy video content to the fullest with vibrant and contrasting visuals. One detail to note is that this display, just like the Redmi Turbo 5’s AMOLED panel, only switches between 60 and 120Hz, and nothing else in between. While playing games, you can set the panel to refresh at 120Hz in the Settings.
The Poco X8 Pro, just like the Redmi Turbo 5, comes preloaded with a ton of apps and games
Just like the Xiaomi Turbo 5, the phone’s software experience is quite customisable but comes loaded to the brim with third-party apps and games, most of which can be uninstalled if not required. What cannot be uninstalled is the Indus App Store, and it will send out spammy notifications for you to update apps. The built-in Themes app also sends out spammy notifications on a daily basis. However, you can turn off notifications from both apps in Settings.
| Benchmarks | Poco X8 Pro | Redmi Turbo 5 | Motorola Edge 70 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display resolution | 1.5K | 1.5K | 1.5K |
| Chipset | Dimensity 8500 Ultra (4nm) | Dimensity 8500 Ultra (4nm) | Dimensity 8500 Extreme (4nm) |
| AnTuTu v10 | 20,67,174 | 20,85,042 | 21,98,686 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 15,015 | 15,947 | 15,953 |
| Geekbench 6 Single | 1,735 | 1,538 | 1,731 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 6,705 | 6,576 | 6,837 |
| Geekbench AI CPU (Quantized) | 1,451 | 1,451 | 3,197 |
| Geekbench AI GPU (Quantized) | 1,359 | 1,244 | 1,173 |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 14,597 | 14,688 | 14,119 |
| 3DM Steel Nomad Light | 1,519 | 1,523 | 1,483 |
Unsurprisingly, performance benchmarks between the Redmi Turbo 5 and the Poco X8 Pro are nearly identical. The MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra SoC can not only handle daily apps and multitasking well, but can also play most demanding 3D games at High settings without breaking sweat. Genshin Impact, which is a very graphically demanding mobile title, worked flawlessly and could handle the ‘High’ graphics settings at 60 fps without any issues. The ‘Highest’ setting was playable, but struggled with slightly choppy frame rates, which is similar to our experience with the Redmi Turbo 5. The vapour chamber cooling system handles the heat well while maintaining good performance during extended gaming sessions.
Poco X8 Pro primary camera samples (tap images to expand)
Camera performance again is very similar to what we experienced with the Redmi Turbo 5. The 50-megapixel primary camera does a decent job in daylight with some minor oversharpening but noticeable clipped highlights. In low light, performance is fine, but we expected better details given the phone’s near-premium price tag.
Poco X8 Pro 2X digital zoom camera samples (tap images to expand)
The 2X digital zoom camera samples come out well in daylight, managing slightly less detail. But we also noticed that the images tend to have clipped highlights in the bright areas of a scene. Details take a noticeable hit in low light, and the image quality isn’t worth the effort.
Poco X8 Pro ultrawide camera sample (tap image to expand)
The ultrawide camera manages that exaggerated field of view, but the photos don’t pack enough detail (because of the 8-megapixel sensor) and appear soft. Colours are also washed out and appear drastically different compared to the primary camera. This softness gets worse in low light, with unusable images.
Poco X8 Pro selfie camera sample (tap image to expand)
The selfie camera captures decent photos, but they somehow lack the finer facial detail we would like to see in such images. The details appear smeared, and this only gets worse when shooting in low-light or dimly lit settings, even after resorting to the screen flash.
Video when shooting at 4K resolution is good in daylight; stabilisation is also good. The video tends to blur when panning. We saw better detail when shooting at 4K 60 fps. That said, the phone does get quite hot when using the camera app, but I did not get a notification to stop recording during a 15-20 minute capture session.
The Poco X8 Pro has a 6,500mAh capacity silicon-carbon battery, which is lower than the Redmi Turbo 5’s 7,540mAh battery by exactly 1,040mAh. In our PCMark Battery Life benchmark tests, the Poco X8 Pro lasted a decent 15 hours and 56 minutes, while the Turbo 5 lasted 17 hours and 23 minutes. Indeed, an hour and 27 minutes isn’t something many will worry about. With daily use, we got nearly the same usage as we got with the Redmi Turbo 5 (a full day of heavy use). Overall, the difference between the two smartphones isn’t a big deal. Given the lower battery capacity, we expected the Poco X8 Pro to reach a fully charged state a bit faster. But this really wasn’t the case, as it too took exactly 1 hour to reach a full charge.
Poco X8 Pro Verdict
What is a big deal? That would be the Poco X8 Pro‘s rising price. Those who purchased one at launch (at Rs. 32,999) may have indeed got their money’s worth, as there was a notable price difference between the X8 Pro and the Turbo 5, which has yet to see a price hike and remains at Rs. 37,999 (for the base variant). Those looking to purchase one today will not see much value and would rather spend an additional Rs. 1,000 and get the slightly bigger battery along with a better optimised camera experience, on the Redmi Turbo 5 instead.
The only time buyers will look at the Poco X8 Pro is when the Xiaomi Redmi Turbo 5 goes out of stock or gets a notable price rise. The other time buyers will consider the Poco X8 Pro is during sales, when this phone’s price is expected to drop. So, yes. Some buyers may end up picking a Poco X8 Pro, just that it’s not happening right now. Alternatively, you can take a look at the Motorola Edge 70 Pro for its slimmer and interesting design and finishes. There is also the OnePlus Nord CE 6, which is a no-frills mid-ranger with excellent battery life at an attractive price.
