Poco F9 Pro Malaysia review: All grown up, price tag included
The Poco F9 Pro is what happens when a flagship killer decides it wants to be taken a little more seriously. Poco’s F-series has always been built around one simple promise: flagship-grade performance for a lot less money.
The F9 Pro brings some of the biggest changes we’ve seen from the series in a while, but all of that comes with a much higher starting price than the F8 Pro had at launch. I’ve been using it as my daily driver, gaming on it, taking plenty of photos and putting those upgrades to the test to see what that extra money actually gets you.
Poco power, as usual
Let’s start with what Poco does best. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series, and the F9 Pro is the first smartphone in Malaysia to use it. Think of it as a slightly trimmed down Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with most of the cuts on the graphics side, though its two prime cores still clock up to 4.6GHz. Our unit pairs it with 12GB of LPDDR5X memory and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, while HyperOS 3 runs the show on the software side.
In day-to-day use, the F9 Pro feels fast and responsive. Apps open quickly, jumping between them is smooth, and I never ran into any noticeable slowdowns throughout my time with it.
What’s new for gamers is the VisionBoost D8, a dedicated graphics chip that the F9 Pro shares with the pricier F9 Ultra. It works alongside the main chipset to handle frame generation and AI upscaling at the same time, letting supported games run at up to 185fps. Do note though that support is still limited, with Poco saying AI Super Resolution currently works on just five titles, including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile.
I tested both games on the F9 Pro. Mobile Legends felt very responsive even in hectic team fights, while PUBG Mobile, the more demanding of the two, ran comfortably without frame drops getting in the way. The display’s 185Hz gaming mode and up to 4,800Hz instant touch sampling, enabled in Game Turbo mode, also help make taps and swipes register almost instantly.
The one thing to keep in mind is heat. Push it with longer sessions on heavier titles and the F9 Pro does get noticeably warm. It never stopped me from playing, but if you’re the type to grind ranked matches for hours on end, you’ll definitely feel it.
A 200MP camera, finally
For the first time on a Poco, you’re getting a 200MP, f/1.68 main camera with OIS, up from 50MP on the F8 Pro. It’s joined by a 50MP, f/2.0 2.5x telephoto with OIS, an 8MP, f/2.25 ultrawide and a 32MP selfie camera.
The main camera is easily the star. Daytime shots are sharp and detailed with good dynamic range, 2x crops hold up well, and night shots still retain a good amount of detail without looking overly bright. Pinch in though, and the processing becomes much more obvious, especially on faces and text. Faces can look slightly different from the actual person, while text can appear smoothed over.
Meanwhile, the telephoto is carried over from the F8 Pro but now focuses from as close as 10cm, making it handy for food and other close-ups, though I’d have liked a longer zoom given how well the main camera already handles 2x. The 8MP ultrawide, as is tradition, is the weak link, with an obvious drop in detail as the light fades. Selfies are decent, and both the main and telephoto cameras shoot at up to 4K60.
Still, it’s a big step up for a Poco, and the camera no longer feels like the compromise you make in exchange for performance.
Bright screen, Bose speakers
Moving on to the display, it’s a 6.59-inch AMOLED panel with a 2510 x 1156 resolution, along with Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support. Outside of games, the refresh rate tops out at 120Hz, which is more than smooth enough for scrolling through TikTok or browsing the web. More importantly for us in Malaysia, it gets plenty bright outdoors, so reading it under the afternoon sun was never an issue.
As for audio, Poco continues its partnership with Bose on the stereo speakers, and they’re loud and clear enough that I rarely reached for my earbuds when watching YouTube or gaming. Just don’t expect the same bass and depth as the F9 Ultra, which gets its own dedicated subwoofer.
Familiar design, with a fun twist
Design-wise, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the F9 Pro for its predecessor at a glance. It keeps the flat frame, flat back and that wide rectangular camera island, and at 206g and 8.79mm thick, it feels nicely dense in the hand without ever feeling like a brick.
Our White unit is clean and understated, which suits me just fine. That said, if you want something with a bit more personality, the Aurora Green version has a back panel that glows in the dark after soaking up some light, which is a fun little party trick. Black rounds off the three colour options.
Interestingly, the back is made of glass fibre-reinforced plastic rather than actual glass, paired with an aluminium frame and Gorilla Glass 7i up front. Don’t let the word ‘plastic’ put you off though; it feels solid and doesn’t come across as cheap at all. Durability is covered too, with IP68 dust and water resistance.
Bigger battery, and wireless at last
Powering everything is a 6,330mAh silicon-carbon battery, a small bump over the F8 Pro’s 6,210mAh. In my usage, it comfortably got me through a full day. Heavier gaming, camera use and high brightness will naturally drain it faster, but there’s plenty of headroom before you need to start hunting for a charger.
When you do need one, 100W wired charging gets you topped up in no time. The bigger news though is 50W wireless charging, a first for the regular F-series Pro model. It’s not something everyone needs, but at it price I’d argue it should be there, and it’s one of those little touches that makes the F9 Pro feel more like a proper flagship.
No longer a bargain, but a better phone
The Poco F9 Pro is available now in Aurora Green, White and Black via mi.com, as well as Poco’s official stores on Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop, in two configurations:
- 12GB + 256GB: RM3,299
- 12GB + 512GB: RM3,499
At full price though, the F9 Pro is no longer the no-brainer bargain the F-series used to be. RM3,299 puts it in a much more crowded bracket, and there’s an awkward rival in its own family too. The Poco F9 Ultra starts at RM3,599, just RM300 more, and gets you the full Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a 5x periscope telephoto, a 50MP ultrawide and a much larger 8,050mAh battery. If your budget can stretch, it’s worth a look.
That being said, I can see where the extra money went. Performance is as strong as you’d expect from a Poco, and the 200MP main camera is a genuine upgrade that finally gives it a photography side worth talking about. Throw in a bright, smooth display, solid battery life and wireless charging, and it’s a much more complete package. It’s not perfect, with an underwhelming ultrawide, a telephoto that could reach further and a tendency to run warm when pushed, but none of these are dealbreakers.
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