Poco F7 review
Android 15 and HyperOS 2
Just like its Pro and Ultra siblings, the vanilla Poco F7 runs Android 15, augmented by Xiaomi HyperOS, v. 2 (on the 'for POCO' software branch). Our Pro review unit and the vanilla F7 are now running slightly different versions of HyperOS, but we didn't notice any major differences between them in practice.
The Poco F7 series comes with a software support promise of four major OS updates and six years of security patches.
Pro, Ultra or vanilla, the new Poco F7s' software is looking very much alike, and it's also very similar to the Xiaomi 15s recently. The usual version continuity and the general sense of being in a familiar place can be observed if you've used a Xiaomi or a Poco in recent times.
A few of the icons are specific to the 'Poco' builds, but there's not a whole lot else that's different from the 'regular' Xiaomi. The full suite of new Xiaomi AI tricks is on board as well.
HyperOS 2.0 on the Poco F7
The Poco F7 Pro allows users to choose between a traditional app drawer or placing all apps directly on the homescreens. While some older Poco models lacked this flexibility, it's good to see the choice available here. However, the simplified "Lite" interface mode with larger icons and improved accessibility appears to be absent.
HyperOS 2 separates the Notifications and Control Center into distinct panels, with no option to merge them into a unified view. The homescreen setup supports apps, widgets, and two types of large folder layouts. The -1 screen can be set to either Google Discover or Xiaomi's App Vault.
More HyperOS 2.0
Then there's the AI functionality, and the Poco doesn't appear to be missing anything we saw on the Xiaomi flagships.
Sure enough, there's Google Gemini. You can ask Gemini to do a bunch of different things and even make entire conversations. You can also have it create images for you. Circle to Search is available system-wide as well.
Gemini • Gemini • Circle to Search
In addition to the standard Gemini integration, Xiaomi includes a wide array of proprietary AI features. These are all clearly grouped under the Xiaomi HyperAI section in the Settings menu for easy discovery and explanation. While you'll still need to access each tool from its respective app, having a centralized overview is a welcome convenience.
AI stuff
The Notes app offers various AI-powered text tools, including translation, proofreading, summarization, and even smart formatting with AI layouts.
The Recorder app supports automatic transcription with speaker identification and separation, as well as the ability to translate those transcriptions. System-wide AI subtitles can be enabled for multimedia playback, and an AI interpreter handles both live face-to-face and phone call translations.
More AI stuff
The Gallery app is packed with AI-driven image editing tools. You can remove objects or people from photos, eliminate reflections, expand content intelligently, or even change the appearance of the sky in your images.
AI image editing features
Benchmarks and performance
The Poco F7 is based on the pretty fresh Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. This 4nm part was released in Q2 2025 and is only now starting to hit actual devices. In fact, this is the first phone with this chipset that has come by the office for testing and getting new silicon to test is always exciting.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, though, we should immediately clarify that the 8s Gen 4 is more similar to the 8s Gen 3 than the 8 Elite in that it doesn't have Oryon CPU cores. Instead, you get one prime Cortex-X4 core, clocked at up to 3.2 GHz and another seven Cortex-A720 cores (three at 3.0 GHz, two at 2.8 GHz and two at 2.02 GHz). The onboard GPU is an Adreno 825, clocked at 1,150 MHz.
The Poco F7 comes with either 256GB or 512GB of fast UFS 4.1 storage. Unfortunately, it is not expandable. The memory is 12GB of quad-channel LPDDR5X. That's pretty good for futureproofing.
Performance definitely has to be one of the highlights of the Poco F7. The Poco X7 Pro has basically been the benchmark for bang-for-buck performance for a while now, and looking at the benchmark results, the new Poco F7 has a stake of its own to make, which is impressive.
According to GeekBench, you are looking at burst CPU performance roughly in the same ballpark as the Poco X7 Pro and its Dimensity 8400 Ultra chipset.
However, AnTuTu and its much more compound benchmark set are much more favorable to the Poco F7, putting it basically on par with the F7 Pro with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. This is in no small part thanks to the Adreno 825 GPU, which performs admirably in 3Dmark testing.
GeekBench 6
- Multi-core
- Single-core
Poco F7 Ultra
Poco F7 Pro
Poco F7
Poco X7 Pro
Moto G Stylus 5G (2025)
Moto G Power (2025)
Infinix Note 50 Pro 4G
AnTuTu 10
Poco F7 Ultra
Poco F7 Pro
Poco F7
Poco X7 Pro
Galaxy A36
Moto G Power (2025)
Infinix Note 50 Pro 4G
3DMark
- Wild Life Extreme (2160p)
- Solar Bay (1440p)
Poco F7 Ultra
Poco F7 Pro
Poco F7
Poco X7 Pro
Poco X7
Infinix Note 50 Pro 4G
Moto G Power (2025)
Thermal-throttling
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is definitely a powerful chip, but it also puts out a lot of heat. Surprisingly, the F7 manages to mostly tame the heat without losing too much of its performance over time. The phone's surface gets really hot, making it uncomfortable to hold, which is not ideal, though.
Thermal throttling
Here are the surface temperatures as measured during stress testing the phone with 3D Mark. The frame gets uncomfortably hot after just 10min.
Poco F7 thermal image
Reader comments
- Bodygard
- 29 Nov 2025
- mFI
European Nord 5 or International version? Because there's a big difference, EU is 5200mAh and International 6800mAh. If you're considering the Nord 5 European version, i'd say go poco F7 because it has 6500mAh, 8sGen4 is more powerfu...
- bloodborne
- 26 Oct 2025
- 7k0
cam so good it can capture supernatural beings