POCO F9 Ultra launches globally at $799, with a 185Hz screen and no charger in the box
POCO's new flagship is out in 25 countries, and the global F9 Ultra ships with a smaller battery than its Chinese sibling.
If you want flagship hardware without flagship pricing, POCO's new pair is the pitch. XiaomiToday reports the F9 Ultra starts at $799 in the US and the F9 Pro at $699, which lands the Ultra just under the figure a POCO spokesperson had given journalists before launch, when Engadget reported the company was promising a price below $800.
PhoneBunch reports that both phones are now officially launched for the global market. Android Central puts the F9 Ultra in 25 countries, among them the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico and the UAE.
The headline spec is the screen. Engadget reports the Ultra uses a 6.9-inch AMOLED panel that tops out at 185Hz, and POCO has built the rest of the phone around feeding it: the company says its WildBoost engine supports 24 games so far at a native 185 FPS, and its LiquidCool system is claimed to cut chip temperatures by as much as three degrees Celsius.
On performance numbers, XiaomiToday reports the F9 Ultra hit 4,165,108 points in POCO's own internal AnTuTu testing. Internal testing is internal testing, so treat that as the vendor's own figure until independent runs appear.
Cameras are where POCO has moved furthest. Both phones carry a 200MP main sensor with optical stabilisation, which XiaomiToday notes is the first 200MP main camera in a POCO flagship, and on the Ultra that sits alongside a 5x optical-zoom periscope telephoto and a 50MP ultrawide.
The compromises are worth knowing before you buy. XiaomiToday reports the global F9 Ultra has an 8,050mAh battery while its Chinese counterpart, the Redmi K100 Pro Max, ships with 9,070mAh, and POCO is not including a charger with the global versions, so buyers will need a compatible adapter they already own or one bought separately.
One detail is not settled. GSMArena describes the chipset as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, while XiaomiToday calls it the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series platform for both models.
Worth noting for anyone who followed the run-up: GSMArena had reported rumoured prices of 799 euros and 999 euros for the two phones. The dollar figures that arrived at launch tell a different story at the top of the range.
Published by Techtutka ·