Poco X8 Pro Max Review: The Battery Beast Gamers Will Love

The POCO X8 Pro Max starts at ₹44,990 in India for the model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. If you want the version with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, it costs ₹48,999.

This phone is available in three distinct solid colours: White, Black, and Blue. You can buy it from Amazon and Flipkart.

The Poco X8 Pro Max packs the following items inside the box:

• Phone
• 100W Charger
• Type C cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Protective cover
• Documentation

Before we talk in detail about the Poco X8 Pro Max, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.83 inches AMOLED screen
• Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 9500s (3 nm)
• RAM & ROM: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM
• Software: Android 16, HyperOS 3
• Rear camera: 50MP, 8MP
• Selfie camera: 20MP
• Battery: 8500mAh
• Weight: 218 grams
• Dimensions: 162.9 x 77.9 x 8.2 mm

Poco X8 Pro Max comes with an amazing design, which is not unique enough to be identified from far. But the in-hand feeling makes it stand out from many other phones. It has a glass-fibre reinforced plastic back with vertical stripes. Overall, the rounds are finished perfectly, and the antenna strip is visible all around the phone.

Its camera design isn’t very unique, but I liked it as well. Because it has a simple two-camera sensor with minimal vertical bump, and the flashlight is back-facing.

I think you may feel awkward using this phone with one hand because of its large dimensions of 162.9 x 77.9 x 8.2 mm. But if you are a gamer and love to watch web series on a giant screen will never accept this as an excuse.

Poco X8 Pro Max also comes with IP68/IP69K dust-tight and water-resistant ratings, which can withstand high-pressure water jets and are immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min. You can buy the Poco X8 Pro Max in a trio of colours: White, Black, and Blue. I’m using its White colour for review. I noticed a bit of smudging on the back side of the glass, but it hardly shows on my white unit.

Moving on to ports, it has a secondary speaker and a microphone. On the right side, you will see a power button and a volume button. At the bottom, it contains a speaker, a Type-C slot, a SIM tray and a microphone.

I was using the Poco X8 Pro Max for a gaming review, but its camera part really surprised me. You might see a similar megapixel count in the X8 Pro Max, considering the Poco X7 Pro. But Poco enhanced the overall image quality with the Fusion 600 sensor for the primary camera.

I visited the Humayun Tomb with this phone, where the lighting conditions were quint-perfect. I clicked a lot of images with the phone. The colours stand out a lot – they are bright and lively, and there is a wide range of different shades.

You can see a clear difference between light and dark areas. The details are clear, but they might look a bit too sharp in some parts. If you see monuments, the images will look aesthetically balanced without sharpening.

But when I took human photos, especially in 1x, they looked a bit overprocessed. On the other hand, in 2x, this phone becomes damn good. I clicked a lot of photos in 2x. Similarly, its portrait mode at 2x performs outstandingly. You can see edges which properly detected.

Ultrawide is also fine when you are capturing something monumental and open areas, but if you are clicking yourself, then you will find defocus issues and uneven colour problems as well.

Low-light photography is also outstanding. I clicked a few images at Nizamuddin Dargah, where the streetlights were dull, and inside the dargah, the lights were much brighter.

It has a strong look with a lot of sharpness added. It’s not the most natural appearance, but it’s still pretty decent. The white balance is nice, and the colours are pleasant as well.

During the Poco X8 Pro Max review, I also took a few selfies, and they all look good. It has 0.08x wider, which is great because we usually want more coverage from our front cameras in group selfies. While 1x mode is also available.

This phone has a good video recording feature that works well for its category. It supports HDR10+ on all cameras and can record 4K video at 60 fps with the main camera. There is also a Pro mode for more control.

Videos from the main camera look great during the day and at night as well. The ultrawide camera takes acceptable videos during the day. Overall, the video stabilisation is good, with only a few minor shakes when walking.

Poco X8 Pro Max comes with a huge 8,500mAh battery capacity, a dream for gamers. Without procrastination, I would say, I got almost 14 hours of screen time even after playing multiple BGMI games. I also got almost three days of battery life on normal. As you know, I’ve been using this for the last two and a half months, and I haven’t experienced any battery issues, like sudden drops.

I also got a powerful 100W fast charger, to juice up the phone in 1 hour and 20 minutes. But you have to wait too long because it can be charged 50 per cent in just 35 minutes. So, don’t worry, your game will not be stopped.

This phone also comes with 27W reverse wired charging. So, during the Poco X8 Pro Max review, I also charged my earbuds multiple times. The bypass charging feature also charges your phone directly during gaming without affecting the battery cells.

Poco X8 Pro Max comes with a 6.83-inch AMOLED display, offering a large screen for smooth video playback. It comes with a 90.3% screen-to-body ratio, while the sharp 1280 x 2772 resolution and 447ppi pixel density ensure crisp visuals.

This phone also supports HDR10+ for high-quality videos on OTT platforms. 3840Hz PWM and Dolby Vision are also included to deliver premium visual quality while protecting your eyes from fatigue.

I used the Poco X8 Pro Max in open areas during the review; honestly, I never had any issues using it because of its 2000 nits (HBM), 3500 nits (peak) brightness. Even you will not reflect much on the screen.

The 120Hz refresh rate is also one of the best things about this phone. It helps with fast display scrolling and opening and closing apps without any jitter.

On top of that, Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection adds durability against daily wear and tear, making the display both premium and reliable.

I was very happy with the Poco X8 Pro Max’s performance. Last year, I used the Poco F7; everything worked on that phone, but I encountered a heating issue after a long session. But after using the Poco X8 Pro Max, I felt like I had used one of the best Poco phones.

The Poco X8 Pro Max comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s (3 nm) chipset. It can handle daily tasks, multitasking, and heavy apps with ease. This phone is also suitable for BGMI, Call of Duty Mobile, and Genshin Impact at high settings. I played a lot of BGMI for long hours at a time, and I never noticed much of a performance drop. Yes, I would not say that it matched iQOO 15‘s level of gaming ability, but it is best compared to other phones in a similar price range.

I also deliver better battery life compared to older 4nm and 6nm chipsets. I also felt less energetic and produced less heat during prolonged gaming and video recording sessions. UFS 4.1-type storage inclusion boosts performance. So, it can run multiple apps in the background. I even opened the BGMI game the next day, and it started running quickly without any delay.

I also ran several Benchmark tests on the Poco X8 Pro Max to assess its performance across different aspects. Its Geekbench scores are 2492 in single-core and 7698 in multi-core. The maximum in the CPU throttling test is 56 per cent. Moreover, its Antutu score is 1855136. The 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test for stability has an overall score of 61.3%.

The POCO X8 Pro Max uses Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3, which is based on Android 16. It has a smooth, customizable interface designed for people who use their phones a lot. However, there is additional software some users might not want, and finding certain settings can be a bit tricky.

HyperOS 3 introduces many AI features, including AI Writing, AI Speech Recognition, and smart AI Search. It also includes Gemini integration for better productivity.

The phone has a special gaming mode called WildBoost 3.0 that allows for high-frame-rate gaming (up to 120 FPS) in games like BGMI and COD: Mobile. This has helped improve my gaming experience.

Xiaomi promises to provide up to 4 major operating system updates and 6 years of security patches, which help keep the phone useful for a long time. The animations and movements on the screen are fast and smooth.

The device comes with some pre-installed apps and games, but most of them can be uninstalled to free up space.

The POCO X8 Pro Max also has a strong set of AI features from both Google and Xiaomi’s HyperAI system.

Important features include AI Writing to help organise notes, AI Dynamic Wallpapers, and an AI Interpreter for live translation. It also has native Google Gemini and Circle to Search.