We put the Poco X8 Pro Max through its paces, a powerful smartphone designed with mobile gaming in mind. But does that automatically make it a good all-round phone?
A new challenger steps into the ring. Xiaomi seemingly decided its catalogue still wasn’t crowded enough, so it has launched yet another model: the Poco X8 Pro Max, essentially a steroid-boosted take on the X8 Pro.
This mid-range handset is aimed at people who prioritise raw speed and SoC muscle, and who want to game on their phone without paying the kind of money you’d spend on a flagship packed with the latest fashionable Snapdragon. With MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500s chip (not to be confused with the Dimensity 9500 inside the Oppo Find X9 Pro) and a huge 8500 mAh battery, the Poco X8 Pro Max promises marathon gaming sessions.
That said, this price bracket is stacked with strong alternatives. To earn its place, it needs to show it doesn’t fall short everywhere else. Can it pull that off? Read on.
Poco X8 Pro Max 12/256 GB at the best price
- Base price: 529 €
| Retailer | Discount | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | -19% | 429 € | View offer |
| Rakuten | -19% | 429 € | View offer |
| Xiaomi | -19% | 429 € | View offer |
See more offers
Price and availability of the Poco X8 Pro Max
The Poco X8 Pro Max is already available on Xiaomi’s official website. Although the recommended retail price is 533 euros with 256 GB of storage and 583 euros with 512 GB, it’s hard to imagine it being sold at those prices for long. Right now, with the launch promotion, it comes in at 430 or 470 euros depending on the memory option.
Three colours have been announced: black, white and blue.
What we like about the Poco X8 Pro Max
Gaming performance
The Dimensity 9500s uses the same configuration as the 9400+ in the Xiaomi 15T Pro. It’s manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC and includes a Mali-G925 Immortalis MC11 GPU. It’s paired with 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage.
Beyond the spec-sheet buzzwords, real-world use backs up Xiaomi’s ambitions. The Poco X8 Max feels extremely smooth day to day, and the polished animations help you appreciate that fluidity. The CPU doesn’t stumble, even when doing photo edits or light video editing. The same goes for gaming: everything runs without stutter or frame drops. Lighter, well-optimised titles like Asphalt and Genshin Impact chain frames effortlessly, while Fortnite holds a stable 60 FPS even with every setting maxed out. To push 90 or 120 FPS, you’ll need to dial back graphics slightly, and that really only matters to the most demanding players. Even over long sessions, heat stays under control, so the chip can keep doing its job without drawing attention to itself.
A massive battery
Very few phones can claim an 8500 mAh battery. Thanks to silicon–carbon technology, the Poco X8 Pro Max still manages to fit that capacity into a fairly conventional design. In practical terms, two full days is achievable without worrying about your usage. Photos, video, gaming, sat-nav… this Poco takes on the most power-hungry tasks and can still leave you with over 50% by the end of the day. It’s genuinely satisfying. If you’re a bit more restrained, a third day is even within reach.
On top of that, you get 100 W fast charging. While Xiaomi is keen to highlight its in-house HyperCharge branding, the USB port supports 100 W PPS (Power Delivery), a universal standard found on most third-party chargers. Do note that there’s no power adaptor in the box, so you’ll need to buy one separately. And there’s no wireless charging at all, which will be a drawback for some.
Still not enough to impress your mates? The cherry on top is that the Poco X8 Pro Max can also act as a power bank thanks to 27 W reverse charging. In other words, you can recharge a Galaxy S26 at its full speed by plugging it into your phone. Plenty to make others jealous.
A tidy, durable design
For this new model, Xiaomi doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel and opts for a fairly standard 2026 look. In simple terms, the Poco X8 Pro Max is an iPhone 17 with the footprint of an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it weighs 218 grams. It’s big and fairly heavy, but that’s part of its identity. If you want a large screen and a battery that can handle hours of gaming, that’s a sine qua non.
The back is finished in matte, with a slightly glossier vertical strip. In white, it creates an almost pearlescent effect-smart and understated at the same time. Even subtler, both camera lenses are surrounded by a circular LED band. Invisible when turned off, these rings can show charging status when plugged in, or signal incoming calls and other notifications when the phone is lying face down. It’s a small touch, but it adds welcome character.
Durability has clearly been considered too. With Gorilla Glass 7i over the display and an IP68 rating, it should cope with scratches, knocks, dust and water-to a point, of course, as it’s not a rugged phone.
A good display with slightly noticeable viewing angles
Up front, there’s a 6.83-inch AMOLED panel with a 1.5K resolution (2772 x 1280 pixels) and a refresh rate up to 120 Hz. By default, the switching is not particularly granular: when the home screen is animated, it runs at 120 Hz; if it stays static for more than three seconds, it drops back to 60 FPS. After that, each app gets its own frame rate, either 60 or 120. It’s a basic approach, but with a battery this large it’s hardly an issue, and it lets you enjoy the panel’s strengths.
Rated at 3500 nits, the Poco X8 Pro Max’s brightness has nothing to be embarrassed about. You can head to the tropics without worrying about harsh sunlight on your screen. Do remember sun cream, though-you’re more fragile than your phone.
As with virtually every smartphone these days, you can adjust the colour range in the system settings, choosing between a punchier look or a more natural image depending on taste. If this matters to you, be aware that at a 45° tilt the colours become darker and less true to life. It’s subtle and unlikely to bother you day to day unless you work with colour-critical files, but a trained eye will spot it.
What we like less
Cameras that are only just fine for social media
You don’t need a trained eye to see that the Poco X8 Pro Max’s photo quality isn’t exactly breathtaking. For occasional use and posting Instagram stories, it gets the job done, but if you expect more, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Let’s start with the hardware. The main camera uses a 50 MP Light Fusion 600 sensor (1/1.95”, 1.6 µm) with a stabilised 6P lens and an f/1.5 aperture. The ultra-wide uses a SmartSens SC821CS sensor (1/4”, 1.12 µm) paired with an f/2.2 lens. First observation: the lack of a telephoto lens means zooming relies on cropping, and it’s inevitably more limited than, for example, a Nothing Phone 4a.
With the main sensor, a quick glance shows familiar mid-range traits: good in daylight, with sharpness dropping at night but still staying passable. The issues become obvious when you look more closely. In the building shot, even at ISO 50, there’s visible grain in the sky, and straight lines bleed a little. At 2x zoom (sensor crop), the verdict is the same: in the Méliès photo, the sign lettering isn’t crisp, and you can spot ghosting on some characters. Even in bright daylight, moving subjects such as pigeons end up looking abstract, and it becomes hard to tell precisely where one bird ends and the next begins.
At night, motion isn’t just streaked-it’s often outright blurred-and bright lights create halos that spill across a sizeable area. You can even see occasional artefacts, such as in the night sky in the ring road photo.
As for the ultra-wide, the output doesn’t really deliver even when conditions are favourable. In the florist’s display, some bouquets merge into a shapeless block of colour, while those at the edges tend to warp. And when light levels drop, blur and digital noise become ever-present, with faces losing so much definition that they end up completely unrecognisable.
In short, the Poco X8 Pro Max is not a camera phone. If that’s what you’re after, you’re better off looking at Nothing, Google or Samsung.
What we’d rather never see again
Xiaomi’s interface is still cluttered
"I’ll die on this hill if I have to, but I’ll keep repeating ad nauseam that the software side of Xiaomi phones is a disgrace." It’s built on Android 16, with a recent security patch and HyperOS in version 3. On paper, that sounds reassuring.
You could list plenty of positives: it’s responsive, it offers lots of personalisation, and it includes some nicely thought-out extras (such as the LEDs around the lenses, or its take on Apple’s Dynamic Island). Yet it’s all undermined by the preinstalled apps. There are far too many, they often duplicate Google’s apps (Mi Browser, App Mall, Gallery, file manager… we already have those), and many are simply poor quality. Even the controversies around Temu haven’t persuaded Xiaomi to remove the app from its phones, and the preloaded games aren’t worth opening even for a quick toilet break when you can find far better options in a couple of taps on the Play Store.
Worse still, the constant notifications from App Mall and the video player-both Xiaomi’s own apps-feel oppressive and have no place in a clean operating system.
Our view on the Poco X8 Pro Max
The Poco X8 Pro Max could be an easy recommendation, particularly for anyone who likes playing very demanding games without having an unpleasant conversation with their bank manager. Its battery is a genuinely compelling selling point, as it can last two days in a row without you having to think about your usage at all. That’s rare enough to deserve highlighting.
However, its shortcomings are too pronounced for it to stand out in a highly competitive price range. The cameras are mediocre, and the software remains just as frustrating. Given how many excellent phones sit at the same price, it’s hard to recommend this Poco without reservations for uses beyond gaming (and even then).
Poco X8 Pro Max 12/256 GB at the best price
- Base price: 529 €
| Retailer | Discount | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | -19% | 429 € | View offer |
| Rakuten | -19% | 429 € | View offer |
| Xiaomi | -19% | 429 € | View offer |
See more offers
Poco X8 Pro Max
533 €
Overall score: 7.4
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Design and ergonomics | 8.5/10 |
| Screen | 7.5/10 |
| Performance and interface | 7.0/10 |
| Battery life and charging | 8.5/10 |
| Photo | 5.5/10 |
We like
- Strong gaming performance
- Long battery life
- A design built to last
- A bright display
We like less
- A cluttered interface
- No wireless charging
- Photos don’t match the rest
See the Poco X8 Pro Max
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