While its Pro Max sibling aspires to be a “flagship killer”, the Poco X8 Pro sticks much closer to the spirit of last year’s X7 Pro. This is both good and bad – on the one hand, the X7 and X7 Pro were quite popular last year, on the other hand, not much has changed in the 14 months since the X7 series arrived.
First, we have to open the box and do some explaining – you may have noticed that the box looks bigger and more colorful than a typical phone box today. That’s because the unit we received for testing is the Poco X8 Pro Iron Man Edition.
Poco X8 Pro Iron Man Edition Box
The box is great with the Iron Man logo and traditional red and gray color scheme. However, the phone itself goes for a black and gold color palette. You can take a closer look at the box and its contents in our hands-on video. The box comes with a special case (which says “Special Limited Edition” on it, lest you forget).
The case features an embossed design that reflects the power armor’s torso and a mix of matte and glossy materials. The phone’s LED flash is styled to look like an arc reactor. Apart from the case, there is a red USB A-to-C charging cable but no charger. It also features a Marvel-branded SIM ejector and a thick piece of cardboard depicting Iron Man’s power armor.
Back side of Poco X8 Pro Iron Man Edition
The Poco X8 Pro Iron Man Edition is a black phone with gold accents. The back panel features a detailed graphical design and an Iron Man decal that has a sort of 3D hologram style effect. The phone also has an Iron Man UI theme but it is similar to the regular X8 Pro.
Before we go any further, we should also mention the Iron Man action figure – this is just a marketing item and will not be part of the Iron Man Edition packaging. It is poseable and has interchangeable hands (including blasts from repulsors). It’s nice all around, but you can’t get it, so let’s move on.
The poseable Iron Man figure is for marketing purposes only
What you’ll notice about Poco is the new metal frame, which feels sturdier and more premium than the plastic frame of last year’s model.
The X8 Pro has a metal frame
The X8 Pro is powered by a 6,500mAh battery – yes, the global model too. Last year, the X7 Pro used a 6,000mAh battery for global units and 6,550mAh for India. It is a Si/C battery that can be fully charged in 48 minutes.
However, you will need a 100W adapter to do this. We’ve already mentioned the bad news – there’s no charger included in the box, not even for the Iron Man version. The good news is that you don’t need an adapter that uses Xiaomi’s HyperCharge technology, a standard USB PPS adapter will work as long as it can meet the power requirement.
Poco X8 Pro supports 100W charging • It is a dual-SIM phone (nanoSIM + eSIM)
Hats off to Poco for keeping the dimensions almost the same despite switching to a metal frame and larger battery. And the dimensions are almost but not exactly the same.
The new model has a 6.59″ display, down from 6.67″ last year. Its width is the same as before, but it is slightly smaller as the aspect ratio has changed from 20:9 to 19.5:9.
Poco X8 Pro compared with the larger Poco X8 Pro Max
Other than that it’s still a high-quality 12-bit panel with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. It’s sharp (1268p+ resolution) and bright (2,000 nits HBM, 3,500 nits peak) and has Gorilla Glass 7i for protection.
Poco X8 Pro features a 6.59” 120Hz 12-bit OLED display
Talking about protection, the global units are rated IP69K (for protection against hot water jets), but some regions are only getting the phone with IP68 rating (submersion). We don’t think this makes much of a difference in practice, but we should mention it.
Another thing worth mentioning is that while the Max has been upgraded to an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, the Poco X8 Pro still uses an optical reader.
Poco X8 Pro is powered by Dimensity 8500-Ultra
The X8 Pro is powered by the Dimensity 8500-Ultra. It’s a 4nm chip that’s basically a “Plus” version of the 8400 – it runs its octa-core Cortex-A725 CPU at a higher speed and has an extra core in the Mali-G720 MC8 GPU.
The cameras are the same as the X7 Pro – the 50MP main has a Sony IMX882 sensor and an f/1.5 lens with OIS. It is paired with an 8MP ultra-wide module and a 20MP selfie camera on the front.
Poco X8 Pro has the same cameras as the X7 Pro
New this year is Dynamic RGB Light – two ring lights (one around each camera lens) that can light up in 8 colors with adjustable brightness. The simplest use of this light is to show charging status or serve as a notification LED. However, there is also some special integration with the music player and select games.
But let’s leave that for the full review – that’s coming soon!
Xiaomi Poco X8 Pro 5G
| 256GB 8GB RAM | €309.90 |
£269.00 |
| 512GB 8GB RAM | €339.90 |
£299.00 |
| Show all prices | ||
