Poco M8 Review: Beautifully Disappointing

Budget smartphones these days rarely manage to capture your attention at first glance. They have the same bland design and feature the bare minimum of specifications. But then comes the Poco M8, the company's first smartphone of 2026, landing under the Rs 20,000 price segment and from first impressions alone, it looks like one of the best smartphones in the category. But the truth is far from this. Find out why in this review of the Poco M8. 

Poco M8 Unboxing 

Before jumping onto the Poco M8 review, here's a brief look at all the contents inside the box:

Poco M8 Design and Build 

The Poco M8 looks nothing like the Poco M7. In fact, it’s basically a rebranded Redmi Note 15, with the same curved sides and that oversized camera module with four circular cutouts. And honestly, that’s not a bad thing. The curved edges and slim profile make the phone very comfortable to hold, even during long usage.

 Despite having a plastic frame and back, the Poco M8 doesn’t feel cheap or hollow. It’s lightweight, well-balanced, and the curves help it sit nicely in the hand. You also get some added durability here, with MIL-STD-810H certification for drop resistance and an IP65/66 rating, which means it can handle splashes and dust without any major issues.

In my Poco M8 Review, the design is honestly one of the phone’s strongest points. It looks and feels more premium than most phones in this category.

Poco M8 Display Quality 

The Poco M8 comes with a large curved FHD AMOLED display, and for the most part, it looks really good. Colours are punchy, blacks are deep, and contrast is excellent. It’s also a 10+2-bit panel, so colour reproduction feels accurate and vibrant than what you usually get in this price range. During my Poco M8 review period, I feel like it can easily be one of the best display phones under Rs 20,000. 

That said, there’s a big miss here. The Poco M8 does not support HDR. So you won't be able to enjoy HDR content on YouTube and Netflix. That feels like a strange omission in 2026. Brightness is good enough for outdoor use, and the 120Hz refresh rate keeps scrolling and animations smooth.

 Audio is another weak point. The stereo speakers get loud, but the sound comes off as shrill and hollow, which takes away from watching videos or gaming without headphones.

Poco M8 Performance Tested 

The Poco M8 is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, which is a couple of years old. That’s not ideal, especially when phones like the Realme Narzo 80 Pro are already offering more capable chips, such as the Dimensity 7400. I ran a few benchmarks to get a clearer picture, and here are the results. 

The numbers reflect mostly what you would expect. However, in day-to-day use, the Poco M8 holds up better than its specs suggest. The animations are fluid, too, although I did notice some stutter here and there during my Poco M8 review period. 

In gaming, titles like BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile run at up to 90FPS, at the lowest graphics settings. Even then, frame drops during intense gunfights. And I can only refrain you from playing heavier games like Genshin Impact, as the gameplay will be quite choppy and not very enjoyable. Suffice it to say, the Poco M8 is definitely not going to be one of the best gaming mobile phones under Rs 20,000. 

Poco M8 Software and Updates

For a phone launching in 2026, you’d expect it to ship with the latest Android version, but the Poco M8 comes with Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2 on top of Android 15 out of the box. Xiaomi is promising four major Android updates and six years of security patches. So, if we rule out the Android 16 update, it will only get three major OS updates.

That said, I found the software experience to be quite lacklustre. Yes, HyperOS brings Xiaomi’s new interconnectivity features, lock screen styles, and a more modern look in some areas. But the Poco Launcher still feels like the one seen on the Poco F1. Basic features like hiding app labels are missing, and there is almost no icon customisation unless you visit Xiaomi’s theme store. 

Another issue that bugged me about Poco M8's software is the dozens of bloatware apps pre-installed in this phone, which I had to spend a good 30 minutes uninstalling. So, from a software point of view, the Poco M8 feels held back by HyperOS.

Poco M8 Camera Review 

The design of the Poco M8 may fool you into thinking that there are 3 lenses, but there's only one usable 50MP shooter available at the back. There’s no ultra-wide lens, which is disappointing, given that the CMF Phone 2 Pro is offering both ultra-wide and telephoto cameras in the same segment.

That said, the main 50MP camera does a decent job. In daylight and outdoor conditions, photos come out well exposed, and you can even get good shots at 2x zoom with enough details. However, I did notice that the colours look washed out, as you can see in the shot with the flowers. 

Low-light performance is also average. Night shots have visible noise, softer details, and a tendency to overexpose light sources, which takes away from the overall look. On the positive side, the Poco M8 handles human subjects fairly well. Skin tones look natural, and the camera doesn’t do over-beautification or skin smoothing.

The 20MP front camera follows a similar pattern. Daylight selfies look clean and natural, but struggle in low-light. Portrait mode can deliver nice results with decent background blur, but it’s inconsistent. Hair and edges often get blurred out incorrectly. So if you are looking for the best camera mobile phone under Rs 20,000, you can scratch Poco M8's name off that list. 

Poco M8 Battery Life and Charging 

Despite its slim design, the Poco M8 packs a 5,520mAh battery. That might be big, but it dwarfs next to the likes of Oppo K13 and Realme P4X 5G, both of which offer massive 7,000mAh capacity. Still, the battery life on the Poco M8 is solid for daily use.

In my Poco M8 Review, the phone comfortably lasted a full day on a single charge. With a mix of calls, scrolling Instagram, watching episodes of Brooklyn 99, and one match of BGMI, I ended up with around 7 hours of screen-on time before the phone requested to be charged. And the 45W charger included in the box fulfilled that request, taking the empty Poco M8 to full in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Bottom Line: Should You Buy Poco M8? 

The Poco M8 gets a few important things right. It has a genuinely good-looking design, a slim profile, and solid battery life with reasonably fast charging. But beyond that, it starts to lose its footing.

Performance is mediocre, especially when phones like the Poco X7 Pro are available for just a couple of thousand rupees more and offer far better hardware. Even within its own segment, the Poco M8 doesn’t really manage to stand out.

The software experience also doesn’t do it any favours. HyperOS still feels cluttered and dated in places, and don't get me started on the cameras. So from this Poco M8 Review, it’s clear that the phone only makes sense at around Rs 16,000 or less. At its current asking price, there are simply better options you can buy that offer more power, cleaner software, and a more balanced experience.