Poco M8 Review: Classic mid-segment performer with classy premium looks

At its inception, Poco was supposed to be an edgy brand – edgy in terms of design, edgy in terms of specs, and edgy in terms of pricing too. And while the brand followed through with this idea for a few years, of late, it was starting to blend in with the rest of mainstream smartphones. And among the most mainstream of its phones are the ones in its M series, which go with the “good specs at an affordable price” formula that defines the mid-segment. The latest in the M series is the Poco M8, and while the term “edgy” might still not fit its description, the phone does come with a design that seems very premium, a price tag that is quite competitive, and a spec sheet that looks respectable. Would that be enough to help the Poco M8 survive in the highly competitive budget mid-segment? Let’s find out:

Poco M8 5G Design and Appearance: Budget? Where? This looks PREMIUM!

The premium segment may have dumped curved displays, but they have found their place amongst the mid-segment smartphones. These displays make phones look uber premium, and the one on the Poco M8 does just that. The phone comes with a tall display that curves out at the sides, giving it a very flowy look. The bezels surrounding this display are extremely slim on all four sides, just like the phone itself. There is a small punch hole notch on top of the display, which is home to the front-facing camera, and there’s an in-display fingerprint scanner near the base.

Poco has spent some time adding tiny details to the back, and it shows. The back is made up of fiber-reinforced plastic and is dual-textured. There are thin, glossy, vertical strips around the sides, while the middle part is matte. A close look at the glossy strip reveals a very subtle checkered pattern there, which is a neat touch. Bang in the middle of the upper back is a big squoval camera unit with four circles inside, right in the middle of which is a ‘50 MP AI camera’ branding. The phone also has the brand’s logo near the base, placed vertically along the left strip.

The Poco M8 cuts a very slim figure. It has a 7.4 mm (the iPhone 17 is 7.95 mm), and while its frame might be plastic, it does not look or feel like plastic, and has a very good matte metal-like finish. The base has the SIM card slot, USB Type C port, and speaker grille, while the top carries an IR blaster. The left side of the frame is bare, but the right side carries the volume rocker and power/lock button.

The phone is quite tall at 164 mm, but is comfortably wide at 75.4 mm. This combo gives it a very nice handfeel, but the phone is not just about sleek looks. It is pretty solid, too. It comes with IP66 dust and water resistance and is drop resistant for up to 1.7 meters, making it a sturdy customer. The Poco M8 is available in three color options– black, green, and silver. We got the black unit, and while it is not likely to turn heads, it can certainly hold one’s gaze once it lands on it. It may be a budget smartphone, but it sure gives off premium vibes.

Poco M8 5G Specs and hardware: Par for the course

The looks of the Poco M8 are up there with some very good-looking smartphones, but the specs are pretty much in line with what you would get at its price point. The phone brings a tall 6.77-inch full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 3200 nits peak brightness. It runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, which is neither new nor quite as snappy as some of the others at this price, but is a decent mid-segment chipset with a proven track record, which will get you through your everyday chores. This is paired with RAM and storage variants of 6 GB/ 128 GB, 8 GB/ 128 GB, and 8 GB / 256 GB. Storage can be expanded to a further 1TB by using a microSD card.

That squoval camera unit might give the impression of there being three cameras at the back, but the phone brings a dual camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel main sensor and a 2-megapixel depth camera with LED flash. Selfies are handled by a 20-megapixel front-facing camera in the notch. The Poco M8 has a 5520 mAh battery and comes with 45 W wired charging support as well as 18 W reverse wired charging support, and a 45W charger in the box.

The phone has stereo speakers, an infrared port, IP66 dust and water resistance, which is pretty great for the price, but runs on Android 15 out of the box, which is topped with Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2, both of which are older versions. Poco promises four years of major OS updates as well as six years of security updates, and we have been told that both Android 16 and HyperOS 3 will come to the device soon. It is a spec sheet that is very similar to that of the recently released Redmi Note 15 5G, with the (very significant) difference of cameras.

Poco M8 5G Performance: The everyday champ

The Poco M8 may be powered by the slightly old Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, but it easily handled our everyday tasks without any hiccups. The apps on the phone load swiftly, and we never really found the device struggling to switch between them either. We routinely jumped from WhatsApp to camera to social media to casual games, and the phone handled it all with ease. We did see an odd struggle every once in a while if we had too many apps running in the background, but it was nothing too alarming.

The Poco M8 is great when it comes to handling casual titles like Subway Surfer, Hangman, or Wordle. While it is not meant to handle high-end games, one can play games like COD if you manage the settings. The phone can get in a couple of high-end gaming sessions before it starts to feel a little warm to the touch, although the temperature never really gets to uncomfortable levels.

The AMOLED display produces great colors and remains impressively bright even under a harsh sun. The colors produced are vibrant and punchy, and when combined with stereo speakers that are quite loud, they make the device a great phone for content consumption. We really enjoyed watching YouTube videos or sneaking in a quick episode from a series on Netflix, and the phone handled it all like a boss.

Call quality on the smartphone is up to mark, but the in-display scanner can be erratic. We found ourselves putting our thumb on the scanner over and over before it finally unlocked the phone. Other than this, the phone is quite dependable and can easily handle most of your everyday smartphone tasks. Yes, shades of the Redmi Note 15 again, and that is not a bad thing at all.

Poco M8 5G Cameras and photography: Decent, not delightful

Many have pointed out spec similarities between the Poco M8 and the Redmi Note 15. But the one area where the two differ is in cameras – the Redmi Note 15 has a high-profile 108-megapixel sensor along with an 8-megapixel sensor, whereas the Poco M8 essentially brings a 50-megapixel sensor on the back.

Given its numbers, we did not have very high expectations from the Poco M8, but the camera performs well in good light conditions. It does not have the best dynamic range and cannot handle shadows that well, but captures a good amount of detail in good light conditions and delivers colors that are very pleasing, albeit a little on the vibrant side. There is no ultrawide lens, not even for decorative purposes, which we do not mind, although it does take away the ability to change perspective. Portrait mode is decent. The edge detection is not 100 percent accurate, but the bokeh produced is deep. There are a number of other modes built into the camera app itself, all of which are easy to use.

The details dip a little in low light, but remain decent. Color accuracy takes a bigger hit, but turning on Night Mode helps matters and preserves some more color and detail. The Poco M8 can capture 4K videos at 30 fps, and videos are pleasant but only when captured in well-lit conditions. The phone’s front-facing camera can take social media-ready snaps, but do not expect very detailed photos. It often softens facial imperfections and textures even when you turn the beauty mode off. The portrait mode on the selfie camera is a little inconsistent, and the low-light performance of the camera is not the greatest. This is not a camera combo one can fall in love with, but it performs decently for the price.

Poco M8 5G OS and interface: Old Android, but smooth performance

It is disappointing that, like the recently released Redmi Note 15 and Redmi 15C, the Poco M8 also comes with Android 15 out of the box, with HyperOS 2 on top of it, when both Android 16 and HyperOS 3 have been out for a while. That said, HyperOS works pretty smoothly. Yes, it is loaded with third-party apps– even when we did not select any third-party app to be downloaded at the time of setting up the device, there were still a few that were present already. One can uninstall them, but their presence is annoying, although they are common at this price point.

HyperOS 2 is otherwise quite feature-rich and easy to get used to, and unlike some Android skins, does not feel overwhelming. Poco does bring some basic AI features to the device, like Circle to Search, Google Gemini, AI Erase, AI Remove Reflection, amongst others, and they work decently, but not remarkably, which is again pretty much par for the course for the price.

Poco M8 5G Battery: Backs your everyday smartphone shenanigans

The Poco M8’s battery is not the biggest in this segment in terms of mAh, but it will see you through a day of regular usage pretty easily. After a day of photography, casual gaming, social media scrolling, YouTube, messaging, and emails, the phone still had some juice left and easily went on to see off the hectic start of the next day as well, before we had to seek the charger.

And even when battery levels are down, charging them back up is a pretty swift affair, thanks to the 45 W charger tagged along with it. We managed to charge the phone up to 50 percent in under 30 minutes, while charging it all the way took a little over an hour. The phone also comes with an 18W reverse charging feature, which means you can charge your TWS with it too, and well, even your posh friend’s iPhone at a decent-ish clip.

Poco M8 5G Pricing: Solidly below Rs 20,000

The Poco M8 is available in the following RAM and storage options:

• 6 GB/ 128 GB– Rs. 18,999
• 8 GB/ 128 GB – Rs. 19,999
• 8 GB/ 256 GB– Rs, 21,999

This pricing is close to double the launch price of the Poco M7 5G, its predecessor, which was launched at Rs. 9,999. However, the M7 was definitely close to a budget device, while the Poco M8 is more solidly mid-segment, and comes with way better specs (a Snapdragon Series 6 chip as compared to Series 4 on the M7). It is also significantly lower priced than the Redmi Note 15, which starts at Rs 22,999.

Poco M8 5G Challengers: Me that’s Red and Real, and Nothing…

CMF Phone 2 Pro
Rs 18,000
Known for its industrial design and clean UI, the CMF Phone 2 Pro also offers some impressive specs, thanks to its more powerful processor and triple camera setup on the back with two 50-megapixel sensors. But it lacks the M8’s sleek looks, big battery, and faster charging.

Realme P4 5G
Rs. 18,499
The Realme P4 is perhaps the biggest headache for the Poco M8 on paper, as it has a display with a 144 Hz refresh rate and 4,500 nits peak brightness, and brings along a much bigger 7,000 mAh battery along with 80W fast charging. No curved display and no expandable memory, though.

Redmi Note 15 5G
Rs. 22,999
It is significantly more expensive than the Poco M8, but it is also very similar in spec terms and brings a better camera to the table. And well, it is a Note!

Poco M8 Review Verdict: Premium looks, steady performance at a great price

The Poco M8 5G’s biggest strength is its price tag. At under Rs 20,000, it is a wallet- friendly option for anyone seeking a premium-looking smartphone with a beautiful display and dependable performance. There might be other phones with slightly faster processors and marginally better cameras, but not all of them tick every performance box the way the Poco M8 does at its price. It might not be as edgy and made of as much fun as some of its siblings, but the Poco M8 brings a lot of everyday task expertise at a price that is below Rs 20,000, and looks that seem way more expensive than that. That’s one powerful combo.

Buy Poco M8