Xiaomi Poco X8 Pro Max – Super cheap top model with great battery life

Regardless of how the different models are marketed, most mobile phone manufacturers have a product family where each model has its own price point and the features are governed by what you can achieve with that price level.

Xiaomi obviously doesn’t think so with Poco, their brand for what they call young and adventurous users. Poco X8 Pro Max has a recommended price of SEK 6,000 with 12/256 GB memory and 6,490 for 12/512 GB. That price range overlaps with the Poco F8 Pro, a phone with similar performance but not very similar otherwise.

Poco X8 Pro Max is mainly sold via Xiaomi’s webshop, and there, at the time of writing, the price has been reduced to SEK 5,390/5,790 depending on the memory configuration. It’s a lot of mobile you get for that price tag and it’s not entirely wrong to claim that it’s a top model for less than half the price.

If performance is what defines a top model, then the Poco X8 Pro Max qualifies in any case. The Mediatek Dimensity 9500s processor package doesn’t quite reach the level of the fastest top models, but is well ahead of the closest mid-priced model. It is noticeable that everything in the interface is lightning fast and that apps start quickly. If you’re not someone who bothers you when the mobile micro-lags, so much performance is almost superfluous, but here you don’t have to pay extra for it anyway.

Unambitious cameras that surprise

Otherwise, you can mainly enjoy the performance for 3D games, for AI functions and for processing images from the camera. But good cameras are not something Xiaomi believes young and adventurous users are interested in, because if there is something that has obviously been prioritized in the Poco X8 Pro Max, it is the cameras. The main camera is 50 megapixels, but with a ½-inch sensor, something you usually only find in cheaper mobiles these days. It accompanies a single 8-megapixel wide-angle camera with a ¼-inch sensor, and a telephoto camera is completely absent.

In any case, Xiaomi has gotten really good at cameras, and the processing power probably does some good, because I have a hard time finding anything to complain about with the main camera. The images are sharp and detailed and the camera handles light surprisingly well. You can also take pictures with twice the magnification, which are significantly sharper than if you enlarged digitally. I compare with the Samsung Galaxy S26 and find it difficult to create any situation where the images from the Galaxy S26 are noticeably better. On the contrary, it is often the Poco X8 Pro Max that took the better photos.

An eye-catching feature of the Poco X8 Pro Max is the 8500 mAh battery, larger than in any phone we’ve tested as well as a couple of extra large, durable phones. The Poco X8 Pro Max is large but not extra large, it weighs, for example, about the same as the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and is lighter than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The extra large battery is due to Xiaomi adopting the technology of silicon inclusion in the battery to increase the capacity. The battery capacity also lives up to expectations. I get almost 20 hours of screen time with the screen set to maximum brightness, which is one of the best results we measured.

A large battery naturally takes longer to charge. The phone supports charging with up to 100 watts, but such a charger is not included. It does, however, to the sister model Poco X8 Pro and with that charger I get 15 percent battery in 10 minutes, and 50 percent takes a little more than half an hour of charging. Expect it to take significantly longer with lower power on the charger.

Really good screen

The screen is also unusually large, 6.83 inches, which of course is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It’s nice to have a large workspace, but don’t expect to be able to use the mobile phone with one hand. The screen is of the Oled type, has fast updating and substantial maximum brightness, as well as thin black edges around. It is in every way what you can ask for from a top model.

Poco’s mobiles are mainly recognized by the color scheme, which often comes in bright colors with some distinctive design detail, such as a colored band across the back, a bit like a sports car. However, this phone is a discreet single color with a plastic back, and looks quite similar to most other phones we test. It is properly water-resistant and can handle both immersion in water and high-pressure flushing.

The Poco X8 Pro Max has Android 16 with the Hyper OS interface, the same as in all Xiaomi mobiles, although the coloring of the theme and the shapes of the icons can distinguish the Poco phones a bit. Hyper OS is a fairly comprehensive redesign of Google’s interface without making it better, on the contrary, it mostly gets messier. Xiaomi liberally sprinkles its own apps, such as a browser and image gallery, and in its own apps there are advertisements. In fact, the browser even sends advertisements in the form of notifications, annoying but not too difficult to turn off.

The phone has the AI ​​features you would expect, of course you have Google’s Gemini and Circle to Search, you can have text written and translated in Xiaomi’s apps, and you can edit images by removing objects and having the background filled in, or fill in the sides with similar environments as in the picture, but the result of the last one is not very good.

If you can get used to the UI quirks, there’s surprisingly little you’ll be missing out on with the Poco X8 Pro Max. Even the cameras, which on paper are an obvious weakness, deliver better than expected, and the battery life is just as phenomenal as it seems. For under SEK 6,000, the phone is a piece of cake.

Questions and answers

Apple and Samsung do not use silicon-infused batteries because they are concerned about long-term durability. Should I be concerned too? Xiaomi states that the battery is rated to withstand 1000 charge cycles, which is just over three years if you charge from empty to full daily. But a consequence of the larger battery is that you don’t charge as often either, and therefore wears it out less.

Does it come with any accessories? No charger, but a discreet black silicone cover that protects the phone.

Does the phone have Always on display that can show the clock when the screen is off? No, that feature is missing on this model.

An alternative

If you want slightly more ambitious cameras and can imagine a slightly smaller battery, the Poco F8 Pro has about the same price but a larger sensor on the main camera and a fairly good telephoto camera.

Camera example

I think that in pitch darkness I should still notice the smaller camera sensor, but those pictures turn out fine too.