It’s been quite some time now since the debut of the POCO X8 Pro and X8 Pro Max, and in the case of the latter Xiaomi (or rather POCO) has made some big promises in terms of the overall user experience, and in all honesty these aren’t unfounded. As far as midrange phones are concerned, the X8 Pro Max comes with some incredibly-impressive hardware.
So how has the phone held up? Let’s take a look.
Design and Display
The POCO series phones have always been marketed as gaming-focused devices, but it’s interesting to note that the X8 Pro Max features a more subdued design compared to most gaming Android phones on the scene. The black variant of the phone in particular features a matte texture that provides a clean aesthetic, and the phone’s rear panel is constructed from a composite material that feels premium to the touch. Meanwhile, the aluminum frame houses the loudspeakers and SIM tray at the bottom and the volume and power buttons along the right edge.
One of the most distinct design features of the phone is its camera island—while it looks unassuming at first glance, POCO has included an RGB lighting setup around the lenses, which adds a subtle bit of visual flare. It’s also customizable with different colours and lighting patterns, and it’s safe to say that I mostly kept the phone face-down just for the cool lighting effect for notifications and such.
The front of the device is dominated by a fairly-large 6.83-inch AMOLED screen with a 1280 x 2772 pixel resolution. It’s terrific for content consumption with the 120Hz refresh rate, and gets really bright at up to 2000 nits of peak brightness, so I didn’t really have any trouble when viewing the display outdoors; it also helps that the bezels are incredibly slim, as it helps give the phone a more premium look.
Performance and Usage
Looks aside, the biggest highlight of the X8 Pro Max is the MediaTek Dimensity 9500S chipset inside, which is paired with 12GB of RAM. Needless to say, the phone was able to breeze through graphics-intensive titles like GRID Legends for example, although it did get slightly warm despite the built-in cooling system inside. On the other hand though, it doesn’t get uncomfortably hot like on a Google Pixel phone, by comparison.
Another key selling point of the phone is its battery. Depending on where you buy this phone, the X8 Pro Max comes with either an 8500mAh or a larger 9000mAh battery, with support for 100W charging speeds. Our review sample came with the 8500mAh setup, and I never really experienced any battery anxiety with the phone. It could easily last through a day even with some gaming on the side, and it was able even to last for up to two days with lighter use.
Software Experience
On the software side, the phone runs Android 16 layered with Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3. The software experience remains a typical Xiaomi affair, meaning it comes with several pre-installed applications like Facebook and TikTok; you can of course uninstall a lot of them, although some system-level apps can only be disabled. Coming from a Google Pixel phone, the amount of apps can get overwhelming, although on the other hand if you’re upgrading from an older Xiaomi phone then this might not really be an issue.
Unlike Google Pixel smartphones, software updates on Xiaomi phones aren’t too frequent and usually come a bit later when compared to other brands, and this stays the same with the X8 Pro Max. On the plus side though, the UI is buttery smooth and I rarely encountered any stuttering when zipping through the different menus and switching between apps.
One particular issue that I ran into though was eSIM support. While the phone does support eSIM downloads, not all carriers might be compatible as I experienced when I tried to transfer my EE sim to the device. After several attempts I was ultimately unable to get it working, and had to switch back to a physical sim card with the phone.
Camera Hardware
The POCO X8 Pro’s camera system uses a dual-sensor arrangement on the rear, featuring a 50MP main sensor and an 8MP ultra-wide lens, accompanied by a 20MP selfie camera on the front. While it’s not anything to write home about, the image quality is consistent with what you usually get on newer Xiaomi phones with a warmer colour profile, and generally sharp-looking images. Photos aren’t terrible per se, and they’ll be more than good enough for sharing on social media and whatnot. You can check out some samples below.
The Bottomline
Starting at approximately £350 (or roughly $470) in the UK, the Poco X8 Pro Max remains significantly more affordable than competitors like the Pixel 10. For this price, you’re getting great features which include a top-tier display, powerful performance, and a capable battery, all wrapped up in a sleek-looking design.
Of course there are some considerations, and factors like the large amount of pre-loaded apps, quirks with eSIM compatibility, as well as the lengthy wait between software updates are things to keep in mind. The camera (while not terrible) is easily outclassed by similarly-priced devices from Google for example, although that’s not always been a strongpoint of POCO phones.
Still, if all you’re after is a hardware-oriented Android phone, then the POCO X8 Pro Max might be something that you’ll want to consider.