If there’s one thing I’ve come to appreciate after using plenty of high-end smartphones, it’s that the best devices aren’t always the ones with the highest price tag. The POCO F9 Ultra immediately caught my attention because it takes that idea and pushes it quite a bit further. At S$1,199, it sits comfortably below many of today’s Ultra-class flagships, yet it comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a 6.9-inch 185Hz AMOLED display, an 8,050mAh battery and a 200MP camera system. After spending time with the phone, I found myself constantly thinking about just how much hardware POCO has managed to squeeze into this price point.
The F9 Ultra certainly isn’t a phone that disappears in your hand. Its large 6.9-inch display and 235g body give it a substantial presence, but I actually found myself enjoying the larger footprint more than I expected. The AMOLED panel is sharp, vibrant and exceptionally smooth, thanks to its 185Hz refresh rate, while the high peak brightness makes it comfortable to view even in brighter surroundings. I particularly enjoyed using it for watching videos and gaming because the expansive screen gives everything a more immersive feel. Compared with some considerably more expensive flagships, the display experience here is surprisingly competitive.
@playfuldroid POCO F9 Ultra in Black colour ? #POCOF9Ultra #POCOF9 #POCO #Smartphone #Xiaomi ? GANGSTERS – Emmett Zetto & Talentless
Things get even more interesting once you start using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. With up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, the F9 Ultra has plenty of room to handle demanding apps, multitasking and gaming. What stood out to me wasn’t simply how fast the phone felt, but how effortlessly it handled my usual workload. I could jump between applications, edit photos, browse the web and spend time gaming without feeling like I was asking too much of the hardware. POCO has also included a number of gaming-focused optimisations, which further reinforce its performance-oriented character. This is one area where the F9 Ultra genuinely feels like it belongs in conversation with much more expensive smartphones.
Of course, powerful hardware can quickly become less exciting if the battery struggles to keep up. Thankfully, that isn’t a concern here. The enormous 8,050mAh battery gave me a level of freedom that I’ve become accustomed to wanting from my daily driver, especially when I’m spending long hours away from a charger. I could browse, stream, game and take photos throughout the day without constantly watching the battery percentage. The 100W wired and 50W wireless charging support also make topping up considerably less of a chore. Compared with many premium flagships that still make do with much smaller batteries, the F9 Ultra’s endurance is one of those features I genuinely appreciated more the longer I used it.
The camera system is another area where the POCO F9 Ultra really impressed me. It combines a 200MP main camera with a 50MP ultra-wide and a 50MP 5x telephoto, giving me plenty of flexibility whenever I’m out shooting. I particularly enjoyed switching between the different focal lengths, as each one brings a different perspective to the scene.
The main camera captures an impressive amount of detail, while the 5x telephoto is especially useful for getting closer to distant subjects without having to physically move towards them. With support for up to 100x zoom, the F9 Ultra also gives me plenty of room to experiment, and I found myself having more fun with its camera than I initially expected. For a phone that puts so much emphasis on performance, its photography capabilities are every bit as exciting.
Beyond the headline specifications, the F9 Ultra also gets a number of smaller details right. Its 2.1-channel speaker system, tuned with Bose, adds surprisingly rich audio to the large display, making the phone an enjoyable device for watching videos or listening to music. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor provides quick and convenient unlocking, while HyperOS 3 based on Android 16 keeps the overall experience feeling modern and responsive. These touches may not grab as much attention as the headline hardware, but together they add to the sense that the F9 Ultra has been built as a complete everyday smartphone.
After spending time with the POCO F9 Ultra, I found it surprisingly easy to appreciate what makes this phone special. It brings together an impressive combination of performance, display quality, photography, endurance and everyday convenience, while giving me the freedom to make full use of all that hardware without constantly worrying about the battery or having to compromise on the experience I want. At S$1,199, the F9 Ultra feels like a smartphone designed to give users more of everything, and that combination of sheer capability and practicality is what ultimately made it such an enjoyable phone to use.
For those who’re interested, the POCO F9 Ultra is available for purchase via mi.com, as well as official stores on Shopee and Lazada.
