Xiaomi has announced a new phone under its POCO sub-branding, and while it brings the above-average displays and camera performance relative to its $650 price tag, the biggest news may be that the phone introduces a new silicon self-developed by Xiaomi named the VisionBoost D7. The chip, manufactured on 12nm process, works along the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC to help the new phone handle heavy graphical processing.
From my testing, the game Genshin Impact, which is one of the most popular and graphically intensive mobile games around, can run on the new POCO F7 Ultra at an average framerate of 105, while Samsung’s much more expensive S25 Ultra ($1,300) can only run the game at 60fps (frames-per-second). Even the iPhone 16 Pro Max, whose Apple-developed chip is considered the most powerful silicon in phones, only ran the game at around 100fps. This means POCO’s $650 phone technically is more capable at running intensive graphics better than Apple’s and Samsung’s highest tier devices costing twice as much.
But that’s technically speaking. The reality is, though, I personally couldn’t quite see much difference between the 60fps running on the Samsung phone and the 105-ish fps on the POCO phone. Both game ran smoothly to my eyes, as 60fps is more than smooth enough. However, I am not a competitive gamer, and people who belong in that camp may be able to differentiate between a game running at 60fps and 110fps.
Still, Xiaomi’s new chip being able to produce more power is noteworthy, considering the relatively affordable price of the POCO F7 Ultra.
Elsewhere, the POCO F7 Ultra features a strong 50-megapixel tele-macro camera, meaning it has both 60mm telephoto focal length and the ability to produce macro photography with a close minimum focus distance of around 7cm. I was able to grab the below images with the POCO F7 Ultra during testing.
As you can see, the tele-macro camera produces excellent photos. As a normal phone, the 5,300 mAh battery is large enough for all day of normal use, and the 6.7-inch OLED display features WQHD resolution with refresh rate that can go up to 120Hz. So this is yet another phone with performance that punches far above its price tag. But ultimately, what sets it apart is the new silicon from Xiaomi.
