Hands-on: Poco F8 Ultra takes 20x zoom photos to the next level

Poco wanted to be one of the first to carry the 2026 Snapdragon chipset for Android mobiles, and that has led to a very early release of the Poco F8 Ultra (S$949 for 256GB).

At the global launch event held in Bali, Indonesia, we’ve also had the chance to test out the phone. Poco has always been known for its gamer appeal and has stepped up with an audio partnership via Bose, but we tried its photography prowess instead to see it can deliver on that front as well.

If you want to learn more about the phone’s features and specs, hit the Related Content below to see our launch coverage. We’re diving straight into the cameras here.

What kind of rear cameras are on the Poco F8 Ultra?

The Poco F8 Ultra has a triple rear camera configuration with 50MP shooters across the board (main, telephoto, ultrawide).

Its main camera packs a massive 1/1.31-inch Light Fusion 950 sensor, and it’s further boosted with a 1G+6P lens that comes with a multi-coat for reducing glare and lens flares.

The 5x optical zoom periscope telephoto is no slouch either, taking on three tasks: 5x optical zoom, 10x in-sensor crop zoom, and 20x Ultra Zoom. It’s also responsible for its 20x Super Moon mode.

Ultrawide gets the least love, but Poco has made sure it “complements the setup”, so it comes down to photo samples to see if ultrawide feels consistent with its other kitted-out cameras. We’ll go straight into our thoughts for each category.

Observe from afar: 20x Ultra Zoom

Poco F8 Ultra’s big sell on its 20x Ultra Zoom is not just fluff. The phone takes great care to sharpen its captures and improve photo quality, using as much information as it has to feed its algorithms. It performs brilliantly, but keep in mind that our shooting conditions were optimal.

While a steady hand and an excellent subject can help showcase the 20x Ultra Zoom, it still relies heavily on computational photography to do the rest. In one of the samples, the beach balls (with soccer-ball patterning) showed it struggling to sharpen the items on sale, but they still looked deceptively sharp.

Can it do portraiture as well?

Poor selfies and portrait shooting can be another dealbreaker for some Android users, especially if they rely on their appearances to stay employed. The Poco F8 Ultra has that covered. Besides wanting better contrast, we are impressed with what a “non-selfie phone” can deliver.

Using the built-in Portrait Mode feature allows Poco F8 Ultra users to adjust the bokeh strength (available as f-stops in the mode). It’s clearly computational algorithms hard at work, since none of the cameras have adjustable lenses.

Our only complaint is that the metadata can be wrong. In the samples above, it reports the right camera by listing its f/1.67 aperture, but we were actually using an artificial f/4.5 aperture to create the in-app bokeh effect. Still, it’s takes pretty portraits, so no major complaints if you’re not a power user.

Not forgetting the basics

Generally speaking, Poco F8 Ultra comes with many strengths. Colours, detail, and the ability to keep noise low is really appreciated. We’ve come a long way in smartphone technologies for a phone below S$1,000 to produce shots that others once dreamed of, not long ago.

We find that it does need some added smarts to handle blown out highlights and shadows, which should help its contrast handling.

Detail quality is commendable, as the Poco F8 Ultra keeps every blade of grass, fern, and other flora distinctively separate, no matter the camera used.

It’s also impressive how it handled a darker subject just fine (photographing an indoor mall from outside in bright daylight) and was even able to capture the words on the signs that are so far away.

Indoor photography with good lighting was excellent, but this is where the Poco F8 Ultra’s struggles with contrast handling start to show. You can see it most prominently in the escalator’s lack of steps.

The 20x Ultra Zoom here once again showed that much of its high-range zoom is computational, especially when you compare the detailing that came in previous zoom ranges.

How does Poco F8 Ultra do in the dark or with bad lighting?

For a fair comparison, we gave the Poco F8 Ultra the same duties, but under the worst possible shooting conditions: nighttime, in a bar full of drunk tourists with deep red lighting.

We are actually impressed with the photo quality, given that the venue was so poorly lit that the naked eye could barely see the food on the table. These samples also showed what kind of computational work is required when Poco F8 Ultra tries to compensate for what it lacks, and still manages to bring out details in the ceiling décor, the fibres of the rattan furnishings, and the interplay of details among the wooden beams and the diners below.

Our thoughts, more samples to compare

As a whole, the Poco F8 Ultra will make you look like a highly competent shooter. What we did enjoy most was its in-sensor crop zoom ranges at 2x and 10x, which were comparable in quality to the native 23mm (main) and 115mm (5x optical on periscope telephoto).

It’s 20x Ultra Zoom gave us a few surprisingly nice shots, but don’t expect it to grab details beyond its super-sharp computational work.

We think Poco still has some work to do in understanding the best mix of highlights, shadows, and contrast, to give us a truly life-like rendition via its powerful rear cameras. Right now, it’s leaning a bit towards imitation Leica, which has its pros (stylo-milo shots) and cons (not really for everyone).

We think the Poco F8 Ultra can handle a wide range of photography styles, especially since it also has portrait shooting covered.

More about Poco F8 Ultra

Poco F8 Ultra comes in two colours (Denim Blue, Black) and in two configurations (12+256GB, 16+512GB). It starts at S$949.

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