POCO Philippines has launched its latest M Series lineup for 2026, as they introduce two models. The POCO M8 Pro 5G positions itself as the more premium option, while the POCO M8 5G goes for a lighter and slimmer design.
With the new phones, the brand moves closer to the mid-range segment by offering bigger batteries, faster charging, improved durability, and better displays. The new POCO M8 series is clearly geared toward the entertainment-focused users. The key features on these devices are typically found in more expensive smartphones but now available at an affordable price.
The POCO M8 5G is exclusively available on Shopee with a suggested retail price of PHP 12,999 for the 8GB+256GB variant and PHP 14,999 for the 8GB+512GB model.
After spending time using the device, here’s how the POCO M8 5G fares in everyday use.
Design and Build Quality
When we first saw and held the POCO M8 5G after unboxing it, the phone immediately felt light and surprisingly thin. It weighs just 178 grams and has a slim 7.35mm thickness.
Both the front and back panels, along with the edges of the phone goes for a 3D curved design, and even the corners are rounded.
Together with its lightweight build, slim thickness, and curved edges makes the phone comfortable to hold and easy to use for long periods.
The POCO M8 5G is available in three colors: Silver, Green, and Black, with this shade being our review unit. It features a pleasing dual-tone back panel design that adds a touch of uniqueness. The middle area has a matte finish with a subtle shimmer effect that does a great job of resisting fingerprints, while the glossy vertical black side stripes has a carbon fiber pattern/style streaks which looks stylish but tend to attract smudges instantly.
If you look closely, the glossy vertical black side stripes feature a carbon fiber–style pattern that adds a stylish and modern look.
We also noticed a familiar design on the rear camera module, the brands squircle-shaped layout positioned at the top center. It stands out from the common square or circular camera modules commonly seen on smartphones. The camera module is slightly raised with four circular cutouts arranged symmetrically in a 2×2 layout. These include the main camera sensor, a depth camera, an LED flash, and a laser autofocus sensor.
The front of the phone has slim bezels, and thanks to the curved edges, the side bezels almost disappear. While, the front camera is housed in a punch-hole design, keeping the display clean. With a screen-to-body ratio of 92%, the phone offers a better viewing experience perfect for various media content, browsing, and gaming.
The included protective case has a gray matte finish and provides good grip, helping prevent slips and making the phone more comfortable to hold. However, it does hide the design of the back panel and I would gladly sacrifice the look for the added protection it offers the phone.
Ports and Buttons
The placement of the ports and buttons is fairly standard which spread around the edges of the phone.
The power and volume keys are positioned on the right edge for easy reach.
The left edge is completely clean showing the phone’s very slim thickness.
At the bottom, you’ll find a USB-C port, main microphone, speaker grille, and SIM card tray.
On the top edge are a secondary speaker grille, another microphone, and an IR blaster.
Durability
Even with its slim profile, the POCO M8 5G is built stronger to withstand accidental drops of up to 1.7 meters, thanks to its reinforced glass and internal shock-absorption structure. It is certified for this level of durability, having earned an SGS Comprehensive Shock and Drop-Resistance certification.
The phone also offers protection against dust accumulation and water splashes with its IP66 rating. We still recommend using the included phone case, as the curved edges may remain vulnerable during accidental drops, especially beyond the suggested height.
Display Experience
The POCO M8 5G gets a noticeable improvement in its display compared to its previous model. The 3D curved AMOLED panel now sports a 6.77-inch screen with a sharp 2392 x 1080 resolution and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. For gamers, it also offers an Instant Touch Sampling Rate of up to 2560Hz for your touch inputs to be quick and accurate.
It now boasts a higher peak brightness of 3,200 nits, allowing the screen to remain clearly visible even under harsh sunlight, while indoor usage will have no issues at all.
The 120Hz refresh rate makes the scrolling and navigation feel smooth and responsive. You also can set it to 60hz to conserve battery.
There’s a color scheme options in the display settings to allow users to choose the preferred level of color reproduction, ranging from vivid and saturated to standard. In the standard color mode, the colors of the display offers a vibrant, better contrast, and deep blacks, while supporting a 12-bit color depth.
The POCO M8 5G also includes a dedicated Reading Mode to reduce eye strain during extended use. For added comfort, it features 3840Hz PWM dimming, which helps minimize screen flicker, especially in low-light environments. The display is further backed by TÜV Rheinland certifications for Low Blue Light, Circadian Friendly use, and Flicker-Free performance for better visual health.
Wet Touch Technology 2.0 remains the screen to be responsive even when our hands are wet.
Performance and Hardware
Chipsets mounted inside the POCO M8 5G is powered by the 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 octa-core processor chipset with clock speeds up to 2.4GHz, and paired with Adreno for its GPU.
It comes equipped with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, which can be expanded with an additional 6GB of virtual RAM for smoother multitasking. A very large 512GB of UFS 2.2 internal storage that has support for expandable storage of up to 1TB via a microSD.
The 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is still a good choice instead of the updated chipset to simply balance performance, efficiency, and cost. This allows the phone to have its price competitive in the market while still delivering reliable everyday performance and better battery life through its 4nm process.
Here’s our benchmark scores:
- GeekBench 6 CPU: 1016 Single Core / 2967 Multi-Core
- GeekBench 6 GPU: 2083 OpenCL Score
- CPDT: 24 MB/s Write, 601.95 MB/s Read
- PCMark: 10537 Work 3.0 Performance
- 3DMark: 3274 Wild Life (19.61 fps)
Checking with the results, the POCO M8 5G can deliver a smooth and reliable performance for everyday tasks such as browsing, messaging, video streaming, and multitasking is responsive. The CPDT scores shows that storage speeds help keep app launches and file transfers quick. Game play on this phone is suitable for all casual titles, though more of the demanding graphic games will require reduced graphics or use its default settings.
Gaming Performance
For casual gamers, the POCO M8 5G performs well. The phone can handle smooth gameplay at default to medium settings in popular titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Mobile Legends, delivering smooth and consistent frame rates. If you enjoy simpler games such as Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, and Subway Surfers, the device can easily run them and let you enjoy hours of play without any issues.
We also tried heavy graphics games like Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact, although you’ll need a bit of patience when loading these apps on the phone. Lower graphics settings offer the best and good playable experience, while higher settings result in a lower frame rates.
Thermal management is just decent, we experience the phone starts to feel warm during continuous gaming for hours with Wuthering Waves, but the temperatures never reach an uncomfortable level.
Sound Quality
When it comes to audio, the POCO M8 5G is equipped with dual stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos support, and a 300% volume boost. The sound is well-balanced which is aided by the strategic placement of the speaker grilles, and loud enough for everyday use. Mid to high tones are present and the bass is slightly there as well, like when we played Warren G’s Regulate, we were able to hear the bass part.
For a richer sound experience, the use of earbuds or external speakers are still recommended. At the maximum 300% volume, slight distortion may occur, which can affect the clarity for a completely clean listening experience.
Battery Life and Charging
Adding to one of the phone’s strongest selling points is the battery. The POCO M8 5G supports a higher battery capacity of 5,520mAh with support for 45W fast charging.
Charging is very impressive. The included 45W fast charger in the box takes the phone to 50% in just 30 minutes, while a full charge took us around 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Charging Time Log
• 6:35 – 7:05 : 50% (30 minutes)
• 7:05 – 7:25 : 77% (20 minutes)
• 7:25 – 7:40 : 94% (15 minutes)
• 7:40 – 7:45 : 97% (5 minutes)
• 7:45 – 7:48 : 100% (3 minutes)
• Total Charging Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
During gameplay test, we played Wuthering Waves for 70 minutes, and the battery dropped from 96% to 78%, consuming around 18% of its charge. Based on this, the battery would probably last roughly 6 hours and 30 minutes before being fully drained.
But with medium usage, such as video streaming, scrolling through social media, emails, online calls, and text messaging, it can last a full day.
The nice add on 18W reverse wired charging feature is convenient, allowing the phone to power up accessories or even another device when needed.
Camera and Photo Samples
The rear camera system on the POCO M8 5G has 3 lenses, a 50MP main camera, 2MP depth camera, and an image sensor.
Mostly in our shots we are using the 50MP lens, it uses the Light Fusion 400 camera sensor technology with a large f/1.8 aperture. It was designed to improve low-light photography, color accuracy, and image clarity.
The 2MP depth camera helps with portrait shots to improve subject separation and background blur in supported scenes.
It would have been nice if there were an ultra-wide lens replacing the depth camera, hoping to have it on the next model.
Selfies taken with the 20MP front camera feature a 1/4-inch sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. Tapping the 1x focal length gives you a wider selfie shot at 0.8x, which is great for groupies. So far the selfie quality is acceptable in daylight, although skin tones can sometimes appear overly soft. But in those well-lit conditions it produces better detail and color accuracy compared to low-light scenarios.
The 50MP camera on the POCO M8 5G is just about average. In daylight and bright outdoor conditions, photos come out well-exposed, and you can even get decent shots at its 2x digital zoom with enough detail.
Aside from the 2x digital zoom, it can extend up to 10x. Tapping the 1x option also offers another focal length equivalent to 35mm, or around 1.2x zoom.
The POCO M8 5G supports up to 4K resolution at 30fps recording on the rear camera. It also offers 1080p and 720p recording at 30fps. For selfie videos, the front camera can record at 1080p and 720p at 30fps.
I experienced slight jittering and poor stabilization during my recordings, so it’s better to use a tripod or gimbal, especially since there’s no 60fps option available for smoother footage.
Here are sample photos we captured on the POCO M8 5G.
1x (29mm) Photo mode, Outdoor, Cloudy Weather
1x (29mm) Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
1.2x (35mm) Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
1x (29mm) Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
1x (29mm) Photo mode, Indoor, Studio Lights (LED)
3x (87mm) Photo mode, Indoor, Studio Lights (LED)
1x Selfie, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
0.8x Selfie, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
Another convenient feature in the camera app is the built-in Teleprompter. It lets you record selfies if you need to do a report-style or news-type blogs, with the aid of a scrolling script. You can either type in your text directly or import a Word or text document.
Connectivity
It’s a 5G-enabled device that supports either dual 5G nano SIMs or a combination of one nano SIM and a microSD card via its hybrid SIM tray. During our use, connectivity remained stable, especially outdoors, with calls and text messages performing reliably throughout the day.
The POCO M8 5G also comes with NFC for cashless payments, along with an IR blaster that lets you use the phone as a remote control for your smart home devices.
Software
Out of the box, the POCO M8 5G runs HyperOS 2 based on Android 15. User will be pleased that the phone receives four years of Android OS upgrades and six years of security updates a promise by the brand for long-term software support.
The software experience is slightly held back by the pre-installed bloatware, including apps like Facebook, Amazon, Booking.com, and LinkedIn. There are also a few preloaded casual games such as Block Blast, Dust Settle, and Bubble Shooter, which can be useful for quickly checking the phone’s gaming performance.
These apps can be easily uninstalled, and you might even enjoy the burst effect animation when deleting them.
Google’s smart level AI tool like Gemini and Circle to Search are available for faster search and content interactions.
AI Beautify
Want to enhance your photos? HyperOS comes with several AI editing tools you can rely on to improve your images. You can also do the post-editing and rendering even when you’re not connected to a Wi-Fi.
- AI Beautify – automatically enhances your selfies or portrait photos. Even non-portrait photos can be improved in terms of color and detail.
AI Erase
- AI Sky – detects any sky in your photos and replaces or enhances it.
- AI Bokeh – creates background blur for portrait shots.
- AI Erase – removes objects or people you don’t want in your images.
AI Erase
What We Like
- Lightweight and Slim Profile
- Sharp and Vibrant Display
- 120Hz Refresh Rate
- Large Battery
- 45W Fast Charging
- 18W Reverse Wired Charging
- Expandable Storage
- Good Sound Quality
- Reliable Camera
- 4K Video
- 5G Ready
What We Want
- HDR Support
- Ultra-Wide Camera
- 1080p at 60fps
- Less Bloatware
Conclusion
In general, the POCO M8 5G has proven us that you no longer need to spend flagship-level money to enjoy features typically reserved for more expensive smartphones.
From its slim and lightweight design, durable build, and immersive curved AMOLED display, to its capable chipset performance, fast charging, and long battery life, the device offer users well-rounded experience for everyday users. Now, if you add in practical extras such as the dual stereo speakers, 5G connectivity, reliable cameras and NFC, it’s clear that POCO focused on packing meaningful upgrades into an affordable package.
While it does have some features we would really want to be in it, but still the POCO M8 5G stands out as a strong all-rounder mid-range phone.
We also enjoyed watching any video content and gaming on the POCO M8 5G. Its AMOLED display, dual stereo speakers, large battery, and capable hardware make it an excellent performer for daily entertainment, which is exactly what the phone is ideally meant for.
In the end, the POCO M8 5G successfully brings premium-like features to a more accessible price point, an ideal choice for budget-conscious buyers looking for maximum value. Also, if your priorities are vibrant display quality, endurance, and everyday performance rather than advanced camera features, then we would recommend the POCO M8 5G.
Full Specifications – POCO M8 5G
- Price: PHP 12,999 (8GB+256GB), PHP 14,999 (8GB+512GB)
- Color: Green, Black, and Silver
- Dimensions: 164 x 75.42 x 7.35 mm
- Weight: 178g
- IP Rating: IP66
- Display: 6.77-inch Flow AMOLED Display
- Resolution: 2392 x 1080 pixels
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Touch Sampling Rate: 240Hz
- Instant Touch Sampling Rate: 2560Hz
- Brightness: 3200 nits peak brightness, 800 nits (typ)
- Color depth: 12-bit (68.7 billion colors)
- Contrast ratio: 8,000,000:1
- DCI-P3 wide color gamut
- Sunlight display
- Reading mode
- Eye Comfort: 3840 PWM Dimming
- Display Certifications: TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification (Hardware Solution) | TÜV Rheinland Circadian Friendly Certification | TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free Certification
- Screen-to-body ratio: 92%
- Processor: Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 Mobile Platform 4nm manufacturing process technology
- CPU: Octa-core, up to 2.4GHz
- GPU: Adreno GPU
- RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X (6GB Virtual RAM)
- Storage: 512GB UFS2.2, Expandable storage up to 1TB
- Rear Camera (Main): 50MP Light Fusion 400, 1/2.88”, 1.22?m, 4in1 Super Pixel, 5P lens, f/1.8
- Rear Camera (Depth) 2MP
- Front Camera: 20MP, 1/4” sensor size, f/2.2, 4P lens
- Video Recording: (Rear) 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 30fps (Front) 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 30fps
- Battery: 5520 mAh
- Fast Charging: 45W Turbo Charging
- 18W Reverse Charging
- Audio: Dual Speakers, 300% Volume Boost, Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res
- Software: Xiaomi HyperOS 2
- Biometrics: In-screen fingerprint sensor, AI face unlock
- SIM Tray: Nano SIM 1 + Hybrid (nano SIM or microSD)
- AI Features: Google Gemini, Circle to search with Google, AI Erase, AI Remove Reflection, AI Sky, AI Bokeh, AI Beautify
