POCO F9 Ultra vs Xiaomi 17T Pro (2026): Is €200 Worth It? - Memeburn

TL;DR

- At EU list prices, the 12GB + 256GB POCO costs €1,099.90 and the same Xiaomi costs €899, a €200 gap.

- The POCO's 8,050mAh battery is 15% bigger and lasted 13% longer in one lab's Active Use test.

- The POCO's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 scored 7.5% higher in Geekbench 6 multi-core, but both phones throttle.

- The Xiaomi's 1/1.31-inch main sensor has about 42% more area, and it adds 4K at 120fps and Log video.

- The Xiaomi gets five Android upgrades to the POCO's four, and both get security patches into 2032.

Two phones from the same company, sold in the same stores, with almost the same telephoto camera, now sit about €200 apart. That’s the POCO F9 Ultra vs Xiaomi 17T Pro problem in one line. Xiaomi launched the 17T Pro on May 28, 2026, and its own performance brand POCO followed with the F9 Ultra on September 1, 2026. Both ran into the same review verdict: great phones at launch prices that are hard to justify.

For anyone who doesn’t follow Xiaomi’s brands, here’s the context. POCO is Xiaomi’s sub-brand for buyers who care most about speed and battery, while the T series is Xiaomi’s cheaper, Leica-branded alternative to its main flagships. Since late October, both phones are also selling well below list price in Europe, so the real question is no longer which one is better. Instead, it’s which advantages are worth paying for. Here’s where each phone wins, where they tie, and who should buy which.

Amazon’choice

XIAOMI 17T Pro

Amazon’choice

Poco F8 Ultra 5G

The Price Gap: €200 on Paper, About €120 in Stores

At European list prices, the gap is €200.90 (about $225) for the base 12GB + 256GB model. But the more telling comparison is a step up. For €999, the Xiaomi gives you 512GB of storage, which is still about €100 less than the POCO’s 256GB model at full price.

In stores, the discounts change the picture again. POCO’s early-bird offer cut the F9 Ultra to €829.90 in Germany until September 21. When we checked retail listings in Germany on October 26, the 256GB POCO sat at around €819.90, while the 512GB Xiaomi was about €699. So right now, the Xiaomi gets you double the storage for roughly €120 less. By our math, that’s about €3.20 per gigabyte for the POCO and €1.37 for the Xiaomi.

POCO also announced a global price of $799 for the base model, which is far below its European list price. However, neither phone is officially sold in the US, so dollar prices on import listings vary widely.

Unless you need 1TB, the Xiaomi is the better deal on price alone. The question is whether the POCO’s advantages below are worth €120 to €200 to you.

Where the POCO F9 Ultra Pulls Ahead

Battery Life: 15% Bigger and 13% Longer in Lab Tests

Both phones use silicon-carbon batteries, which mix silicon into the battery’s anode (the part that stores charge) so it can hold more energy without getting much bigger. The POCO simply has more of it: 1,050mAh, or 15% extra capacity.

That advantage also holds up in testing. In one independent lab’s battery and charging tests, the F9 Ultra posted an Active Use Score of 24 hours 35 minutes, while the 17T Pro scored 21 hours 41 minutes in the same lab. That’s about 13% longer. The EU energy label, which every phone sold in the EU must now carry, tells a similar story, with the POCO ahead by about 14%.

The POCO can also share more power. It supports 22.5W reverse wireless charging, so you can top up earbuds or a watch by placing them on its back, while the Xiaomi only does reverse charging over a cable.

Raw Speed: About 8% to 12% Faster in Benchmarks

The F9 Ultra uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, while the 17T Pro uses MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500. Both are flagship chips built on a 3nm process, and smaller numbers here generally mean more efficient chips. Geekbench 6 is a benchmark app that measures processor speed: single-core reflects how snappy simple tasks feel, and multi-core reflects heavy work like video exports. In the same lab, the POCO scored about 12% higher in single-core and 7.5% higher in multi-core.

In daily use, you’re unlikely to feel that difference. Both chips also run hot under long loads. Reviewers said the F9 Ultra “runs hot and throttles,” meaning it slows itself down to cool off, and the 17T Pro settled at around 50% of its peak in a CPU stress test. Neither phone has a fan, so if sustained gaming is your top priority, a fan-cooled phone such as the Honor Win 2 is built for that job.

Instead, the POCO’s more practical advantage is its USB 3.2 port. It moves files faster and can send video to a monitor over a cable, while the 17T Pro’s USB 2.0 port can do neither. POCO also adds a separate VisionBoost D8 chip for frame interpolation, which inserts extra frames to make supported games look smoother.

Speakers and Fingerprint Reader

The POCO’s speakers are its most underrated feature. It uses a 2.1 setup tuned by Bose, which means two stereo speakers plus a dedicated woofer on the back for bass. One lab called the sound excellent, while the same lab found the Xiaomi’s speakers “disappointing,” with little bass and harsh highs at high volume. In fairness, the Xiaomi measured slightly louder, so the POCO wins on quality, not volume.

The POCO also has an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, which maps your finger with sound waves and generally works better with wet or greasy fingers. The 17T Pro uses an optical reader, which takes a photo of your fingerprint through the screen.

A Brighter, Faster Screen

Refresh rate is how many times per second the screen redraws. At 185Hz, each frame lasts about 5.4 milliseconds, compared with about 6.9 milliseconds at 144Hz. However, only some games support those speeds, and one review noted the Xiaomi rarely even uses 144Hz.

Brightness is the more useful difference. In the same lab, the POCO was about 20% brighter in auto mode, which is what you’ll notice outdoors in direct sun. PWM (pulse-width modulation) is how OLED screens dim themselves by flickering quickly. One lab listed the 17T Pro at a high 3,840Hz, but another measured a secondary 120Hz flicker, which can bother people who are sensitive to it. The POCO offers DC dimming, an alternative mode that lowers the power instead of flickering. On the other hand, the Xiaomi’s screen is slightly sharper at about 447 pixels per inch.

POCO wins on battery, speed, speakers, and brightness. Those are the things you’ll notice every day.

Where the Xiaomi 17T Pro Pulls Ahead

The Camera: Fewer Megapixels, Bigger Sensor

Here’s the counterintuitive part. The POCO’s 200MP main camera has four times the megapixels, but the Xiaomi’s sensor is physically bigger. Sensor sizes are listed as fractions of an inch, and a 1/1.31-inch sensor is larger than a 1/1.56-inch one. By our math, the Xiaomi’s sensor has about 42% more surface area. A bigger sensor collects more light, which usually means cleaner low-light photos and more natural background blur. Megapixels, by contrast, mostly add detail when there’s plenty of light.

The telephoto cameras, meanwhile, are close to identical on paper: both are 50MP, 1/2.76-inch, f/3.0, 5x periscope lenses with optical image stabilization (OIS), which physically steadies the lens. Reviewers praised the zoom on both phones, so this is a tie.

The ultrawide is a split decision. The POCO’s 50MP ultrawide has more resolution, while the Xiaomi’s 12MP lens sees a wider 120° view. Neither has autofocus, so neither can double as a close-up macro camera.

Video is where the Xiaomi clearly wins. It shoots 4K at 120fps for smooth slow motion and records 10-bit Log, a flat color profile that keeps more detail for editing later. If you edit your videos, that matters more than any megapixel count.

Software: One More Android Upgrade

Both phones run the same HyperOS 3 software on Android 16. However, Xiaomi promises the 17T Pro five major Android upgrades and six years of security updates, with Android upgrades through about mid-2031 and security patches through May 2032. The POCO gets four upgrades and six years of patches, which should keep it secure until around September 2032.

So, if you’re buying today, both phones get security fixes into 2032. The Xiaomi, however, gets one extra Android version, even though it’s the older and cheaper phone.

A Lighter, Slimmer Body

The Xiaomi is 16g (7%) lighter and 0.4mm thinner, and reviewers called the POCO “somewhat heavy.” Both carry IP68, which means they’re sealed against dust and can survive a dunk in fresh water.

There’s one surprise here. The POCO uses a glass-fiber back, which sounds tougher, but its EU label rates it in drop-test class C, while the glass-backed Xiaomi gets class B. The rating is based on how many drops a phone survives in a standard test, and the Xiaomi lasted twice as many. That said, most people will put a case on either phone anyway, and POCO includes one in the box in Europe.

Xiaomi wins on camera hardware, video, software support, and comfort.

Where It’s a Draw

Several things that look different on spec sheets end up close in practice:

- Charging speed: Both support 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. In one lab, the Xiaomi charged fully in 44 minutes and the POCO in 54 minutes. However, the POCO was filling a bigger battery. By our math, the two charged at about 159mAh and 149mAh per minute, which is close. Also, neither phone includes a charger in Europe.

- Selfies: Both use a 32MP front camera that records 4K at 30fps.

- Screen size: The POCO’s 6.9-inch panel is only about 2% larger in area than the Xiaomi’s 6.83-inch screen.

- Connectivity: Both have Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, eSIM support, and an infrared blaster for controlling TVs.

What Each Advantage Actually Costs You

To make the trade-off concrete, here’s what the POCO’s extra €200 (at list prices) or €120 (at German street prices on October 26) buys you, and what you give up for it:

In our view, the POCO’s list makes the most sense for one kind of buyer: someone who games, watches a lot of video through the speakers, and is hard on batteries. For everyone else, Xiaomi’s list is more valuable, and it’s cheaper.

POCO F9 Ultra vs Xiaomi 17T Pro: Which Should You Buy?

To reach these picks, we compared official spec sheets, independent lab results from the same testing lab where possible, and German retail listings checked on October 26. We haven’t tested either phone ourselves.

Get the POCO F9 Ultra if:

- Battery life is your top priority, and you often finish the day under 20%.

- You play games for long stretches and want the fastest chip and the 185Hz screen.

- You watch videos without headphones because the Bose speakers are a real step up.

- You need 1TB of storage, or you want to plug your phone into a monitor.

Poco F8 Ultra 5G

Overview

- AMOLED display delivers vibrant colors and smooth 120Hz visuals

- Snapdragon flagship chipset powers demanding games and multitasking

- Advanced triple cameras capture detailed photos with versatile zoom

Get the Xiaomi 17T Pro if:

- You care more about photos and video than benchmarks, especially in low light.

- You want the phone to get Android updates for as long as possible.

- You’d rather have 512GB of storage for less money than the POCO’s 256GB model.

- You find big, heavy phones tiring to hold.

XIAOMI 17T Pro

Overview

- AMOLED display delivers vibrant colors and smooth scrolling

- Flagship MediaTek chipset powers demanding apps and gaming

- Leica-engineered cameras capture detailed, professional-quality photos

Overall, the Xiaomi 17T Pro is the better buy for most people right now, mainly because the discounts have made its 512GB model cheaper than the POCO’s 256GB one. The POCO F9 Ultra, however, is the better phone for power users, and it’s worth buying when it drops close to its €829.90 early-bird price again.

If you’d rather wait, Black Friday in late November usually brings the deepest cuts on phones like these. And if neither feels right, Xiaomi’s next flagship generation is already arriving, with the Xiaomi 18 Pro going global in the coming months.

FAQs

Is the POCO F9 Ultra the same phone as a Redmi model in China?

POCO phones are often rebranded Redmi models from China, with tweaks to software, cameras or batteries. Xiaomi’s 2026 China lineup includes the Redmi K100 series, which pairs this chip class with huge batteries.

Which phones have the longest battery life in 2026?

Silicon-carbon batteries have pushed many 2026 phones past 7,000mAh, and some gaming models go beyond 10,000mAh.

Are there cheaper POCO phones with a telephoto camera?

Yes. POCO is bringing zoom lenses further down its range. The POCO X8s and its 2.5x zoom show how much telephoto you can now get without paying flagship prices.

Is MediaTek’s Dimensity as good as Snapdragon for gaming?

Mostly, yes. Both brands now make 3nm flagship chips with similar peak speed, though game optimization and cooling still vary by phone. MediaTek’s next step, the 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro, is already inside three phones that don’t use all of it.

When are the best phone deals of the year?

For most brands, late November around Black Friday brings the lowest prices of the year on last-generation phones.