We’re only a month and a half away from the 1-year anniversary of the POCO F8 Series and here we are welcoming the launch of its successor, the POCO F9 Series. As usual, we’ll be going over both devices but this time, we’ll go straight into it because after all, time is of the essence.
Personally, I think it’ll be interesting to see how POCO stays competitive in the midst of the RAM crisis and consequent price hikes.
So, what are we still waiting for? Let’s find out…
What’s in the Box?
POCO didn’t dare switch up the unboxing experience for this year’s F9 Series. I mean why would they? The more money they save on the menial things, the more money they can pour into making a phone with little to no compromises. So, it stands to reason that the packaging would be the same as it did last year.
Inside the box, you get all the things you need and nothing more. These things include:
- The POCO F9 Pro
- A Plastic Case
- A 100W HyperCharge brick
- USB Type-A to Type-C Charging Cable
- A SIM Ejector Tool
- Quick Start Guide and Warranty Information
A Familiar Face With a Glow-Up
I’m a firm believer of the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and it looks like I’m not the only one in that thought because instead of reinventing the wheel, POCO chose to retain last year’s design but with a twist.
There are two things to look out for in differentiating the POCO F9 Pro, one is the ring that encompasses the “Sound by Bose” branding inside the camera plateau and the other is the never-before-seen colorway that POCO is debuting with the F9 Pro.
If last year’s POCO F8 Ultra stole the spotlight with its denim backing, this year’s POCO F9 Pro takes the stage with a new Aurora Green color but not for the reasons you think. Aside from the shade of green that’s closer to matcha than anything I’ve ever seen, the Aurora Green colorway also hides a clever feature underneath.
To access that feature, what you need to do is to leave the rear panel facing the sun or any indoor lighting for 10+ minutes then move it to a darker location and watch as the POCO F9 Pro glows within the darkness.
It’s pretty gimmicky, I’ll give you that, but personally, I think smartphone brands should take more bold steps just like this just to give their phone a little whimsy, a little fun, just to bring a little uniqueness to their smartphones.
But for those looking to blend in with the surroundings, POCO still offers a white and a black one. Regardless of which color you choose, the POCO F9 Pro’s build is nothing short of premium.
The front and back panel is made from glass with the entire package wrapped in a metal frame. For added protection, POCO used a Corning Gorilla Glass 7i for the front glass and the entire thing is IP68 water and dust resistant.
Button and port placement remains unchanged with the power button and volume rocker found on the right side. Meanwhile, the top houses one of the speaker grilles while the bottom is where you’ll find the USB Type-C port, the SIM tray, and the other speaker grille.
But if you’re thinking of reusing your old POCO F8 Pro case with the F9 Pro then I’m sorry to say that it’ll probably won’t work, why? Because just like me, the POCO F9 Pro gained a few grams and millimeters in a span of a year. 8.79 mm and 206 g to be exact, compared to the F8 Pro’s 8 mm and 199 g. I guess there’s just more to love…
The Brightest Part of the F9 Pro
The similarities end there because from here on out, the POCO F9 Pro packs newer, more efficient hardware, starting with the display. The POCO F9 Series debuts a new display panel called M11 which POCO says is brighter, faster and more efficient than the display used in last year’s model.
According to POCO, the M11 AMOLED display panel can reach up to 10,000 peak brightness and 4,500 nits peak brightness for a variety of scenarios while still being 20% more efficient and improving the lifespan by 5%. It also has the distinction of having an industry-leading 185Hz refresh rate which you don’t see very often in phones of this price range.
Basically, what that means for the ordinary Juan and Juana is that even in direct sunlight, and I mean REALLY direct and harsh sunlight, the POCO F9 Pro’s 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED display stays nice and clear without chugging too much battery and killing off the display’s lifespan.
Sure, in the day, being the brightest is of the utmost importance but you can’t go full tilt all the time because that’ll surely burn your retinas. Lucky for us, POCO didn’t just focus on making the F9 Series the brightest, they’ve also made sure to do it safely.
At night, the POCO F9 Pro is as safe as it can be thanks to Xiaomi Vision Care which intelligently controls the brightness, clicker, color, and the blue-light emission to make the experience easy on the eyes.
Pretty important considering that binge watching on the POCO F9 Pro is a must. Sure, it’s not the biggest but the combined powers of Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and the dual super-linear Sound by Bose tuned stereo speakers make the watching experience like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.
Speaking of Sound by Bose, users can choose from two profiles that best suit their wants and their needs. There’s Dynamic which covers all depending on the audio that’s coming out and then there’s Balanced which focuses more on the vocals.
POCO’s Camera Era Continues
When the F8 Series was launched, POCO promised that from that point on camera will be a core focus moving forward, and to their credit, the photography experience on the F8 Series did see major improvements compared to previous generations.
Now a year has passed and POCO seems to be even more committed to the F series being more than just a performance beast because headlining the POCO F9 Pro’s triple camera setup is a 200 MP ultra-clear HP5 image sensor with a dedicated 200 MP mode for those extra crispy shots.
Other sensors include a 50 MP floating telephoto camera which has 2.5x optical zoom and up to 5x lossless digital zoom, an 8 MP OV08F ultra-wide camera, and last but not the least, a 32 MP front camera with a Smart Aperture feature for group photos.
Here’s a few from the front facing camera:
On the software side, POCO included a ton of new features that give your photos and videos a more cinematic feel, and that’s on top of the AI Creativity Assistant which is where you’ll find features like AI Image Enhancement, AI Beauty, AI Reflection Removal, and AI Cutouts.
A Beast in Pro Clothing
The formula for F devices has always been that the Ultra (or Pro in some of the previous ones) always gets the cutting-edge processor of that time, while the Pro gets the previous generation’s flagship processor.
This year, POCO isn’t entirely scrapping that formula, but they are trying out something new that closes the gap between the two. Personally, I think this year’s POCO F9 Pro got the better end of the stick, at least in performance that is.
Under the hood of the POCO F9 Pro is a brand spanking new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series. It’s almost the same chip as the standard SD 8 Elite Gen 5 except for a slight difference in graphical performance. Think of it like the 1GD-FTV engine in the Toyota Grandia and Toyota Fortuner, same engines but one is tweaked for comfort.
We put the POCO F9 Pro through our usual suite of benchmarks and here’s how it performed:
- AnTuTu Benchmark V11: 3,300,290
- GeekBench 6 CPU: 1950 (Single-core) | 8780 (Multi-core)
- GeekBench 6 GPU: 12,430
- PCMark Work 3.0 Performance: 20,030
That difference actually works in favor of the V Series because it draws less peak power and runs slightly cooler than the standard version. But POCO didn’t just rely on the V Series’ newfound efficiency, they’ve also put in their 3D IceLoop cooling system just to make sure that everything stays nice and smooth for the player.
To make up for that slight dip in graphical performance, POCO once again gave the F9 Series a dedicated graphics boost chipset.
The VisionBoost D8 takes advantage of pre-trained AI models to give users access to the following features:
- Smart Frame Rate
- AI Super resolution
- Game HDR
- Dual-core Visuals
It’s also responsible for the improved WildBoost Engine which when paired with the 185Hz display panel, a 480Hz 10-point touch sampling rate, and the Sound by Bose audio, well, you have yourself a gaming beast that’ll put more expensive phones to shame.
Of course, not all games will take full advantage of that 185Hz panel. Currently, there are only a handful of games that could make use of all 185Hz. At most, you’ll get 165FPS in most games like Mobile Legends: BangBang but hey, at least you’ll be set for quite a long time.
Even with a RAM crisis ravaging the tech sector, POCO still managed to equip the F9 Pro with 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 internal storage. Of course, the big question is how much will all of these be… Keep reading to find out…
All-Day Power and Then Some
Powering all those goodies is a 6,330 mAh Silicon Carbon (Si/C) battery which if you think about is not the most sizable upgrade from last year’s 6,210 mAh but considering that the new V Series chipset is less power hungry than the Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gen 4) that it replaces.
Powering all those goodies is a 6,330 mAh Silicon Carbon (Si/C) battery which is a slight upgrade from last year’s 6,210 mAh. Although considering that the new V Series chipset sips less power than its predecessor, there’s no doubt that the POCO F9 Pro could easily last more than a day of fair usage.
Charging won’t be a problem though because the POCO F9 Pro still supports 100W wired HyperCharge charging, hell, even wireless charging is almost as fast at 50W. The phone also supports both 27W wired and 22.5W wireless reverse charging to help a friend out when in a bind.
Final Thoughts
It’s clear that the POCO F9 Pro no longer wants to play second fiddle to the Ultra, it’s done waiting and wants to play with the big boys. Honestly, I’m more excited for the F9 Pro than the Ultra, although I’m still holding my thoughts till I get my grubby little hands on those to see what surprises it has in store.
For now, I think that POCO is offering more value with the F9 Pro than it has ever done. It checks most, if not all the boxes of what a flagship should be but in a form factor that everyone can hold. Even the Aurora Green colorway stands for something. Sure, it’s a little gimmicky but it gives the F9 Pro something that most smartphones lack nowadays: personality.
In a market where prices are steadily creeping upward, that combination could make the F9 Pro one of the most compelling options in its class. That goes to show that even with all of the things happening, POCO is still keeping true to their promise of giving you more phone for your money.