If you were expecting the POCO F9 Ultra to be a straight copy-paste of the Redmi K100 Pro Max with a different logo slapped on, think again. A fresh leak points to a pretty significant battery difference between the two phones, and global buyers might want to pay attention before getting too excited about the specs sheet.
According to NokiaMob, tipster Kacper Skrzypek dug through HyperOS code and found that the POCO F9 Ultra could carry an 8,050mAh battery, while the POCO F9 Pro may come with a 6,330mAh cell. Compare that to the Redmi K100 Pro Max with its massive 9,070mAh pack and the Redmi K100 Pro at 8,580mAh, and you’re looking at a gap of over 1,000mAh on both models. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a real difference.
The charging speeds, though, are expected to stay the same across all four phones at 100W wired. So POCO isn’t cutting corners on how fast these things top up, just on how much juice they hold to begin with. Why? Nobody knows yet. It could be battery certification requirements in certain markets, different internal layouts, or just POCO positioning these phones slightly below their Redmi siblings. None of those reasons have been confirmed.
Still, context matters here. An 8,050mAh battery is still enormous for a flagship phone in 2026. Most premium Android phones are just now creeping past 5,000mAh, so even the reduced POCO version would be well ahead of the pack. The POCO F9 Pro’s reported 6,330mAh is more of a concern, especially if buyers are cross-shopping it against the Redmi K100 Pro and expecting similar endurance.
Set the battery situation aside and the rest of the expected hardware is genuinely impressive. Both phones are reportedly powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V-series chip, with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. The POCO F9 Ultra is expected to use a 6.9-inch AMOLED display while the F9 Pro goes slightly smaller at 6.59 inches. Both panels are tipped to run at 1.5K resolution with a 185Hz refresh rate, which should make scrolling and gaming feel incredibly smooth.
Camera specs are where the two models start to pull apart a bit more. Both are expected to share a 200MP Samsung HP5 main sensor and a 32MP front camera. But the POCO F9 Ultra reportedly gets the better supporting cameras:
- 50MP ultra-wide lens
- 50MP periscope telephoto with 5x optical zoom
The POCO F9 Pro reportedly steps down to an 8MP ultra-wide and a 50MP periscope telephoto with 2.5x optical zoom. That’s a meaningful difference if camera versatility is a priority for you.
Both phones showed up recently in certification databases in Singapore and Indonesia, which suggests a global launch is getting closer. POCO typically follows Redmi releases with a few months gap before bringing international versions to market, so the timing tracks. But POCO hasn’t officially confirmed anything yet, including the name, specs, or release date. Everything here is still leaked and unconfirmed.
The bigger story is what this tells us about how Xiaomi manages its brand family. POCO and Redmi increasingly target similar buyers, and the line between them can feel blurry. Tweaks like a smaller battery are one way to create separation without changing the core hardware. Whether that’s the right call for consumers is another question. For now, keep expectations measured and watch for an official word.