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Poco F9 Ultra: Two-minute review

Poco’s latest high-end phone, the Poco F9 Ultra, continues to show you don’t have to spend absolute top dollar to get the best performance — but a price increase over the previous-generation model is hard to ignore.

The F9 Ultra replaces the Poco F8 Ultra after less than a year, and with the same chipset and design, it doesn’t change too much at first glance. But look deeper, and this is a refined upgrade that boasts an enormous battery bringing multi-day power, a new 200MP main camera sensor, and some of the best speakers on any phone.

The whole package proves you don’t have to spend four figures to land a phone with top-of-the-line specs and performance. The base model with 12GB RAM and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset costs $799 / £899 — yes, that's a $70 / £150 increase over the starting price of the F8 Ultra, but Poco did explain to TechRadar that it believes this new price remains "competitive" for the level of specs on offer. And it has a point — there are only a handful of phones offering 12GB RAM and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset for less money (one of which is Poco's own F8 Ultra).

The F9 Ultra's massive 6.9-inch AMOLED display looks great and is capable of 185Hz refresh rates during compatible games. Gameplay is also boosted with the unusual addition of a Bose-tuned subwoofer on the back, plus you're getting dual speakers, which makes the F9 Ultra a top choice for hands-free calls and listening to podcasts without headphones (though I still can’t condone blasting music from it here are on principle).

(Image credit: Future)

As mentioned, for those after the latest Snapdragon silicon for as little money as possible, the F9 Ultra is only undercut by Poco's own F8 Ultra, or indeed the Xiaomi 17, which launched for £899 but is currently on sale for £699. But the F9 Ultra still costs a whopping $500 / £380 less than the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and it wipes the floor with the pricier Google Pixel 11 Pro XL when it comes to gaming.

The cherry on top is a mammoth 8,050mAh battery, one of the biggest on a flagship device available in the UK at the time of writing (September 2026). It means the F9 Ultra can last for three days with moderate use, and I found it impossible to kill in a waking day.

And lastly, aside from a slightly stingy four years of Android updates, six years of security patches to see you through to 2032 is good to see on a phone as well-rounded as this.

Poco F9 Ultra review: Price and availability

• Starts at £899 / $799 / €1,099.99
• A $70 / £150 price increase on the F8 Ultra
• Not officially available in Australia
• Still competitive considering the specs

The Poco F9 Ultra starts at $799 / £749, though the US price varies depending on the seller (the phone is not officially available through US carriers, but $799 is Poco's official US price). Official UK availability is good to see, though £749 represents a £150 increase on the F8 Ultra’s £749 starting price, and at the time of writing, the older model is on sale for £649, which is an absolute steal.

But in being equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, the F9 Ultra undercuts the Galaxy S26 Ultra — the only S26 series phone in the UK to run a Qualcomm chipset — by an almighty £380, and it's much less than the £1,279 Pixel 11 Pro XL, too, whose Tensor G6 chipset can’t hold a candle to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in terms of performance.

In fact, at £899, the F9 Ultra is the same price as the Google Pixel 11, but it offers superior gaming chops, a more expansive display, and much better battery life. That's why, despite increasing the price, Poco believes the F9 Ultra remains "competitive" in today's market — and we're inclined to agree.

• Value Score 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Specs

Here’s a look at the Poco F9 Ultra’s key specs:

Poco F9 Ultra

Dimensions:

163.5 x 77.9 x 8.7mm

Weight:

235g

Display:

6.9-inch AMOLED

Resolution:

1200 x 2608 

Refresh rate:

185Hz

Peak brightness:

10,000 nits

CPU:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

RAM:

12GB/16GB

Storage:

256GB/512GB/1TB

OS:

HyperOS 3, based on Android 16

Main cameras:

200MP main (f/1.7), 50MP ultra-wide (f/2.4), 50MP 5x telephoto (f/3.0)

Selfie camera:

32MP (f/2.2)

Battery:

8,050mAh

Charging:

100W wired, 50W wireless

Colors:

Dark Cherry, Black

Poco F9 Ultra review: DesignFutureFutureFuture

• Similar look to the iPhone 17 Pro
• Large but manageable device
• Sleek dark cherry colour replaces gaudy denim

The Poco F9 Ultra I reviewed is the lovely Dark Cherry option, which I prefer over the F8 Ultra’s bold but gaudy Denim Blue. Despite being a very large phone, the F9 Ultra is very comfortable to hold thanks to subtly curved aluminum side rails and a ‘Glass Fibre’ composite rear, which should be more resilient than the glass found on most rival flagship devices.

There’s also a black model if you'd prefer a safer option, with a red power button for a pop of color. The Dark Cherry variant hardly shows any fingerprints on its matte surface, and the overall look of the F9 Ultra grew on me in the weeks I was testing it, despite its obvious similarities with the iPhone 17 Pro and indeed the F8 Ultra.

The phone's four-circle camera design alongside the Bose-branded subwoofer is different enough to me, and manages to look as simplistic as possible. The F9 Ultra also doesn’t rock and wobble when used face up on a table, which is a nice touch.

Save for the one-piece volume rocker above the power button on the right edge, there isn't much else to report besides a USB-C port and speaker grilles on the top and bottom. When all is said and done, this is quite a conservative design when it’s not clad in faux denim!

• Design score: 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Display

(Image credit: Future)

• Large, bright 6.9-inch panel
• Up to 185Hz refresh rate in some games
• Punch-hole selfie camera

The Poco F9 Ultra’s display is excellent, with great brightness and clarity. It's a 6.9-inch 1200 x 2608 AMOLED panel that Poco claims has a peak brightness of 10,000 nits, much higher than rivals. However, it tames that claim by saying this 10,000-nit figure only applies to 1% of the display area, so a 4,500-nit “multi-scenario peak brightness” is the real figure here.

This is a good example of a brand obfuscating the real specs when it doesn’t need to. The F9 Ultra has a great screen, so Poco should lean into the actual numbers rather than fudging a fake one for marketing purposes. The display is very easy to read in bright sunlight, which is all you need to know.

Poco offers excellent granular control over display and color settings, a nod to the phone's gaming focus under the hood. You'll find ‘Original color PRO’ or ‘Vivid’ options in the settings app, which offer full custom control so you can find the right look for you. A dedicated hardware chip can even enhance video quality if you switch the ‘dual-core visuals’ toggle on. All this really does is smooth everything out, so I left it off.

The display can refresh at up to 185Hz, which is the highest I have ever tested on a phone. Most modern OLED displays achieve 120Hz with a variable rate, and some gaming phones have pushed to 144Hz or 165Hz. At the time of writing, the F9 Ultra's 185Hz rate is only available in CrossFire: Legends and Blood Strike, but you'll still get 165Hz in titles like Call of Duty: Mobile and Bang Bang.

So again, what Poco should really say here is that the F9 Ultra has an excellent 120Hz display in most scenarios. That information is hard to come by in the review documents I was provided with, and most users, most of the time, will never see 185Hz unless they play the two aforementioned games daily.

I personally prefer the Pixel 11 Pro XL’s display, which I think handles white balance better and isn’t so blinding to look at, but it’s a close call, and the F9 Ultra certainly has one of the best displays for the price. It’s a great choice for a large screen and undercuts, say, the Galaxy S26 Plus by a significant margin, though the F9 Ultra's display has a slightly lower resolution.

With every conceivable display spec under the sun included here, such as HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and TÜV Rheinland certification for flicker-free viewing and blue light filtration, it’s hard to criticize the screen on this phone.

• Display score: 5 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Cameras

(Image credit: Future)

• Strong 200MP main lens
• Very capable 5x telephoto
• Ultra-wide is not the best

Poco has equipped the F9 Ultra with a pleasingly capable trio of cameras, which is led by a 200MP main lens, an upgrade on the 50MP shooter on the F8 Ultra. Shots are binned down to 12.5MP by default, though 50MP and 200MP settings can be toggled on.

In the default mode, shots look excellent, offering most of the color and mood I personally like from Xiaomi phones such as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra and 17T Pro, though Poco does not have the same Leica partnership or photo filters here.

Apart from a few times where colors looked wildly oversaturated, I really liked the output from the F9 Ultra. It has an artistic, filmic quality that many phones abandon in 2026 in favor of sharpened, contrast-heavy looks. The main camera is better than that of the regular Galaxy S26, which retails for $899 / £879, $100 / £20 less than the Poco.

It’s great to see a 5x optical zoom lens here too, mirroring what you’ll find on the Xiaomi 17T Pro and beating the S26’s 3x optical lens handily. Images are crisp thanks to optical image stabilization (OIS), and shooting in portrait mode at 5x makes for some great street photography. The F9 Ultra is also a phone that’ll come in handy when you’re sitting up in row Z at your next Harry Styles concert thanks to digital zoom up to 100x, though things look patchy after 30x.

The 50MP ultra-wide lens is the weakest of the three cameras, but that’s usually the case on triple-lens phones. In broad daylight, images are very usable, but without OIS, the smaller sensor size shows its limitations in low light, with noise and grain.

The 32MP selfie shooter is solid for solo and group snaps, and works as you’d expect for video calls.

Speaking of video, the main lens can record at up to 4K at 60fps, or even 8K at 30fps. 4K 60fps is great to see, though the Snapdragon chipset here is probably capable of 4K 120fps, like you’ll find on the aforementioned Xiaomi 17 Ultra and the cheaper 17T Pro. This is a case of Poco limiting its hardware’s capabilities in software, which is a shame, even if most users won’t notice.

That said, the camera app is fully featured and well designed, with an accomplished Pro mode offering the ability to shoot in RAW for those who want to edit images later on their computer.

• Camera score: 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Camera samplesFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuturePoco F9 Ultra review: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is still excellent
• Nothing slows this thing down
• Bose audio is fun but not a gamechanger

Performance is where Poco phones really shine, and the F9 Ultra is the most performant Poco phone yet. Its flagship-level specs include the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, though this is the same chipset as you'll find in the F8 Ultra. Poco explained this decision to us, so you can see if you agree with the firm's reasoning, but it does appear as though the launch of the F9 series was brought forward this year, because Poco has opted to not use the next-generation flagship Snapdragon chipset, which is usually unveiled in October.

The base $799 / £899 F9 Ultra comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, though there are also 512GB and 1TB storage options available, each offering 16GB RAM. Poco sent me the latter for review, which retails for £1,199 — notably less than the 12GB/256GB Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is £1,279. So, despite some price rises, Poco is still delivering value here for those after the very best specs for the money.

Performance follows, too. I could not get the F9 Ultra to stutter, even when playing Genshin Impact with the settings maxed out — the Pixel 11 Pro XL, by contrast, can’t even load the game.

The impressive thing about the F9 Ultra is its sustained performance under load. Where rival phones can stutter after half an hour or so on Call of Duty: Mobile, the Poco soldiers on (pun intended) without breaking a sweat. The phone didn't overheat once during my time testing it, presumably thanks to the built-in cooling system that Poco says reduces strain on the CPU.

Audio is great thanks to two stereo speakers and the addition of a subwoofer next to the cameras. This is tuned by Bose thanks to a partnership, and promises deeper bass and a wider soundstage. Compared to the Pixel 11 Pro XL and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, the Poco F9 Ultra sounds much fuller when playing music out loud or listening to gaming audio, though I don’t think this is a reason to buy the phone. The Bose partnership improves audio slightly, but you will still want headphones connected via Bluetooth for most things.

Now that you can no longer buy the identically priced OnePlus 15 in the US or UK (RIP), the F9 Ultra would have been your best bet for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-level power, but the previous-gen F8 Ultra offers incredibly similar performance and is available at the time of publication for £649.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Software

(Image credit: Future)

• HyperOS 3 based on Android 16 at launch
• Some AI tools require account sign in
• Four years of Android updates, six of security

The F9 Ultra gets Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3 Android skin, which at launch is based on Android 16, rather than the latest version, 17. Poco says the phone will get four platform updates, presumably to Android 20, and six years of security updates to keep buyers going until 2032.

HyperOS changes the look of Android to feel a little more like the iPhone’s iOS, but that’s no bad thing as it is perfectly functional, if a little cluttered at times. It’s a shame to see bloatware installed on a phone of this price, with AliExpress, Amazon Music, TikTok, and a few others pre-installed, but they can all be removed.

Going the way of iOS, notifications are a swipe from the left while quick settings are from the right. After I’d wrangled the software a bit during setup, I got it looking cleaner with more icons per row and fewer folders full of apps that are initially presented.

What is thankfully not shoved in your face is AI, even though there is a lot of it on board. There’s a whole section in the settings app called Xiaomi HyperAI, which directs you to Google’s built-in Gemini platform, as well as Xiaomi’s own branded AI tools.

(Image credit: Future)

AI Dynamic Wallpapers, AI Writing to generate text, AI Speech Recognition to transcribe audio, AI subtitles for videos — AI everything! In the Gallery app, there are some capable AI editing tools, including a beautify mode that works well. But others, such as an Ultra HD toggle or an Expand feature to generate images, require you to sign in to a Xiaomi account within the settings app.

HyperOS is visually quite different to Google’s Android flavor on the Pixel or the now-barely-seen ‘stock’ Android look, but I’ve warmed to it in recent months. It’s perfectly functional, and mercifully lets you swipe down on notifications to expand them, unlike on fellow Xiaomi stablemate Redmi’s phones.

The software is also very responsive on this hardware. Menus flow, and apps open instantly. I saw and felt no difference between the F9 Ultra and other, more expensive Android flagship phones. It feels faster than Samsung’s S26 series in many ways, though that could be down to Samsung’s slower default animations.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Battery

(Image credit: Future)

• Two- to three-day battery life
• 100W fast charging but no charger in UK box
• 50W wireless and 27W reverse wired charging

The F9 Ultra has a whopping 8,050mAh silicon-carbon battery. This new tech means phone makers can put higher-density batteries in phones than they could with lithium-ion, resulting in devices of the same physical thickness that last for much longer. Using the F9 Ultra as my main phone for more than a week, I consistently got two days of use out of it, sometimes stretching into a third day’s morning.

That’s seriously good longevity, made even more impressive by the phone’s flagship specs. It’s capable of 100W wired charging, but there is frustratingly no charger in the box for UK buyers. I tested the charging speed of the F9 Ultra using a Vivo 100W charging brick with the ‘Top Speed’ charging setting turned on.

The phone went from dead to 100% in 95 minutes, which is impressive for a battery of this size, and it got to 27% in 15 minutes. You’ll have to fork out for a compatible fast charger, which is a little galling when you’re laying down at least $799 / £899.

The phone also has 50W wireless charging — faster than the S26 Ultra can do via a wired connection (45W) — and can even be used as a power bank for other devices thanks to 27W wired reverse charging and 22.5W reverse wireless charging.

A few phones on the market go for longer, like the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max, but the Poco F9 Ultra gets top marks here for stonking battery life paired with top-tier specs.

Here are the phone's charging speed results broken down:

• In 15 minutes: 27%
• In 30 minutes: 46%
• 0-50%: 33 minutes
• 0-100%: 95 minutes

• Battery score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Poco F9 Ultra?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

The Poco F9 Ultra offers top specs for a lower price than many of its competitors, but the F8 Ultra has the same chip for less.

4/5

Design

While a refinement on the F8 Ultra, the design is sleek and is as manageable to hold as large phones get.

4/5

Display

A superlative 185Hz display that usually tops out at 120Hz, save for some games. Great peak brightness and extensive customization options.

5/5

Software

HyperOS 3 is a mature and easy to use software skin, though launching on the older Android 16 stings. AI stays out the way if you want it to, which is a win.

4/5

Cameras

Very capable triple cameras led by a 200MP main sensor are a year-over-year upgrade, though they rank a tier below the very best on the market. Still excellent in this price range, though.

4/5

Performance

Incredible performance thanks to Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and up to 16GB RAM. Sustained performance under load is notably great thanks to strong thermal management. An exemplary gaming phone.

5/5

Battery

Some of the best battery life on a phone with flagship specs thanks to enormous silicon-carbon cell and fast charging, though no charger in the box (in the UK).

5/5

Buy it if...

You want the best battery life on a flagship phone
Two days of battery life with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phone is possible with this phone; you may even get three days with careful use. This is the best you can get in the UK with these specs.

You want top gaming performance
No game can bring this thing down. If you fire up triple-A mobile games every day, the F9 Ultra should be at the top of your shopping list.

You want a great, large display
There aren’t many better displays on a smartphone. It’s best suited to mobile gamers, but the 6.9-inch size is strangely manageable thanks to good handset design.

Don't buy it if...

You want to spend as little as possible on these specs
Poco sells a very similar product for less in the F8 Ultra, which is still on sale.

You want the best cameras in this price range
While very capable, you can get better cameras on the Xiaomi 17T Pro for less.

Poco F9 Ultra review: Also consider

The Poco F9 Ultra is a strong phone in its price range, but there are a couple of similarly priced options worth considering alongside it:

Xiaomi 17T Pro
This phone has very similar specs to the Poco and costs £100 less. It lacks the Snapdragon chip, but has better-tuned cameras and longer software support.

Read our full Xiaomi 17T Pro review

Oppo Find X9 Pro
A phone with noticeably better cameras and very comparable performance is on sale at the time of writing for £899, the same price as the F9 Ultra.

Read our full Oppo Find X9 Pro review

Poco F9 Ultra

Xiaomi 17T Pro

Oppo Find X9 Pro

Price:

$799 / £899

£799

£1,099 (£899 on sale)

Display:

6.9-inch OLED

6.83-inch OLED

6.82-inch OLED

Cameras:

200MP main; 50MP ultra-wide; 50MP 5x telephoto

50MP main; 12MP ultra-wide; 50MP 5x telephoto

200MP main; 50MP ultra-wide; 200MP 3x telephoto; 50MP 10x telephoto

Chipset:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

MediaTek Dimensity 9500

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Battery:

8,050mAh

7,000mAh

7,050mAh

How I tested the Poco F9 Ultra

• Review test period: Two weeks
• Testing included: Everyday use with messaging, web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music streaming
• Tools used: Geekbench 6, 3DMark

Why you can trust TechRadar

☑️ 100s of smartphones reviewed
☑️ 15 years of product testing
☑️ Over 16,000 products reviewed in total
☑️ Nearly 200,000 hours testing tech

I tested the Poco F9 Ultra over the course of two weeks, using it as my main phone with my main SIM card for a week, and as a secondary phone on other days. I used it to make calls, send WhatsApp messages, take video calls, play mobile games, stream podcasts and music, and take scores of photos.

I tested the performance of the phone’s display, chipset, cameras, and battery life for this review, comparing results with Poco’s claims as well as my decade of experience reviewing Android smartphones professionally. I’ve used many of the most recent Android flagship devices the F9 Ultra is gunning for.

I also ran benchmark tests using the Geekbench 6 and 3DMark apps to qualify my performance assessments of the phone.

Read more about how we test here.

• First tested September 2026

Poco F9 Ultra: Two-minute review

Poco’s latest high-end phone, the Poco F9 Ultra, continues to show you don’t have to spend absolute top dollar to get the best performance — but a price increase over the previous-generation model is hard to ignore.

The F9 Ultra replaces the Poco F8 Ultra after less than a year, and with the same chipset and design, it doesn’t change too much at first glance. But look deeper, and this is a refined upgrade that boasts an enormous battery bringing multi-day power, a new 200MP main camera sensor, and some of the best speakers on any phone.

The whole package proves you don’t have to spend four figures to land a phone with top-of-the-line specs and performance. The base model with 12GB RAM and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset costs $799 / £899 — yes, that's a $70 / £150 increase over the starting price of the F8 Ultra, but Poco did explain to TechRadar that it believes this new price remains "competitive" for the level of specs on offer. And it has a point — there are only a handful of phones offering 12GB RAM and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset for less money (one of which is Poco's own F8 Ultra).

The F9 Ultra's massive 6.9-inch AMOLED display looks great and is capable of 185Hz refresh rates during compatible games. Gameplay is also boosted with the unusual addition of a Bose-tuned subwoofer on the back, plus you're getting dual speakers, which makes the F9 Ultra a top choice for hands-free calls and listening to podcasts without headphones (though I still can’t condone blasting music from it here are on principle).

(Image credit: Future)

As mentioned, for those after the latest Snapdragon silicon for as little money as possible, the F9 Ultra is only undercut by Poco's own F8 Ultra, or indeed the Xiaomi 17, which launched for £899 but is currently on sale for £699. But the F9 Ultra still costs a whopping $500 / £380 less than the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and it wipes the floor with the pricier Google Pixel 11 Pro XL when it comes to gaming.

The cherry on top is a mammoth 8,050mAh battery, one of the biggest on a flagship device available in the UK at the time of writing (September 2026). It means the F9 Ultra can last for three days with moderate use, and I found it impossible to kill in a waking day.

And lastly, aside from a slightly stingy four years of Android updates, six years of security patches to see you through to 2032 is good to see on a phone as well-rounded as this.

Poco F9 Ultra review: Price and availability

• Starts at £899 / $799 / €1,099.99
• A $70 / £150 price increase on the F8 Ultra
• Not officially available in Australia
• Still competitive considering the specs

The Poco F9 Ultra starts at $799 / £749, though the US price varies depending on the seller (the phone is not officially available through US carriers, but $799 is Poco's official US price). Official UK availability is good to see, though £749 represents a £150 increase on the F8 Ultra’s £749 starting price, and at the time of writing, the older model is on sale for £649, which is an absolute steal.

But in being equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, the F9 Ultra undercuts the Galaxy S26 Ultra — the only S26 series phone in the UK to run a Qualcomm chipset — by an almighty £380, and it's much less than the £1,279 Pixel 11 Pro XL, too, whose Tensor G6 chipset can’t hold a candle to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in terms of performance.

In fact, at £899, the F9 Ultra is the same price as the Google Pixel 11, but it offers superior gaming chops, a more expansive display, and much better battery life. That's why, despite increasing the price, Poco believes the F9 Ultra remains "competitive" in today's market — and we're inclined to agree.

• Value Score 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Specs

Here’s a look at the Poco F9 Ultra’s key specs:

Poco F9 Ultra

Dimensions:

163.5 x 77.9 x 8.7mm

Weight:

235g

Display:

6.9-inch AMOLED

Resolution:

1200 x 2608 

Refresh rate:

185Hz

Peak brightness:

10,000 nits

CPU:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

RAM:

12GB/16GB

Storage:

256GB/512GB/1TB

OS:

HyperOS 3, based on Android 16

Main cameras:

200MP main (f/1.7), 50MP ultra-wide (f/2.4), 50MP 5x telephoto (f/3.0)

Selfie camera:

32MP (f/2.2)

Battery:

8,050mAh

Charging:

100W wired, 50W wireless

Colors:

Dark Cherry, Black

Poco F9 Ultra review: DesignFutureFutureFuture

• Similar look to the iPhone 17 Pro
• Large but manageable device
• Sleek dark cherry colour replaces gaudy denim

The Poco F9 Ultra I reviewed is the lovely Dark Cherry option, which I prefer over the F8 Ultra’s bold but gaudy Denim Blue. Despite being a very large phone, the F9 Ultra is very comfortable to hold thanks to subtly curved aluminum side rails and a ‘Glass Fibre’ composite rear, which should be more resilient than the glass found on most rival flagship devices.

There’s also a black model if you'd prefer a safer option, with a red power button for a pop of color. The Dark Cherry variant hardly shows any fingerprints on its matte surface, and the overall look of the F9 Ultra grew on me in the weeks I was testing it, despite its obvious similarities with the iPhone 17 Pro and indeed the F8 Ultra.

The phone's four-circle camera design alongside the Bose-branded subwoofer is different enough to me, and manages to look as simplistic as possible. The F9 Ultra also doesn’t rock and wobble when used face up on a table, which is a nice touch.

Save for the one-piece volume rocker above the power button on the right edge, there isn't much else to report besides a USB-C port and speaker grilles on the top and bottom. When all is said and done, this is quite a conservative design when it’s not clad in faux denim!

• Design score: 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Display

(Image credit: Future)

• Large, bright 6.9-inch panel
• Up to 185Hz refresh rate in some games
• Punch-hole selfie camera

The Poco F9 Ultra’s display is excellent, with great brightness and clarity. It's a 6.9-inch 1200 x 2608 AMOLED panel that Poco claims has a peak brightness of 10,000 nits, much higher than rivals. However, it tames that claim by saying this 10,000-nit figure only applies to 1% of the display area, so a 4,500-nit “multi-scenario peak brightness” is the real figure here.

This is a good example of a brand obfuscating the real specs when it doesn’t need to. The F9 Ultra has a great screen, so Poco should lean into the actual numbers rather than fudging a fake one for marketing purposes. The display is very easy to read in bright sunlight, which is all you need to know.

Poco offers excellent granular control over display and color settings, a nod to the phone's gaming focus under the hood. You'll find ‘Original color PRO’ or ‘Vivid’ options in the settings app, which offer full custom control so you can find the right look for you. A dedicated hardware chip can even enhance video quality if you switch the ‘dual-core visuals’ toggle on. All this really does is smooth everything out, so I left it off.

The display can refresh at up to 185Hz, which is the highest I have ever tested on a phone. Most modern OLED displays achieve 120Hz with a variable rate, and some gaming phones have pushed to 144Hz or 165Hz. At the time of writing, the F9 Ultra's 185Hz rate is only available in CrossFire: Legends and Blood Strike, but you'll still get 165Hz in titles like Call of Duty: Mobile and Bang Bang.

So again, what Poco should really say here is that the F9 Ultra has an excellent 120Hz display in most scenarios. That information is hard to come by in the review documents I was provided with, and most users, most of the time, will never see 185Hz unless they play the two aforementioned games daily.

I personally prefer the Pixel 11 Pro XL’s display, which I think handles white balance better and isn’t so blinding to look at, but it’s a close call, and the F9 Ultra certainly has one of the best displays for the price. It’s a great choice for a large screen and undercuts, say, the Galaxy S26 Plus by a significant margin, though the F9 Ultra's display has a slightly lower resolution.

With every conceivable display spec under the sun included here, such as HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and TÜV Rheinland certification for flicker-free viewing and blue light filtration, it’s hard to criticize the screen on this phone.

• Display score: 5 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Cameras

(Image credit: Future)

• Strong 200MP main lens
• Very capable 5x telephoto
• Ultra-wide is not the best

Poco has equipped the F9 Ultra with a pleasingly capable trio of cameras, which is led by a 200MP main lens, an upgrade on the 50MP shooter on the F8 Ultra. Shots are binned down to 12.5MP by default, though 50MP and 200MP settings can be toggled on.

In the default mode, shots look excellent, offering most of the color and mood I personally like from Xiaomi phones such as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra and 17T Pro, though Poco does not have the same Leica partnership or photo filters here.

Apart from a few times where colors looked wildly oversaturated, I really liked the output from the F9 Ultra. It has an artistic, filmic quality that many phones abandon in 2026 in favor of sharpened, contrast-heavy looks. The main camera is better than that of the regular Galaxy S26, which retails for $899 / £879, $100 / £20 less than the Poco.

It’s great to see a 5x optical zoom lens here too, mirroring what you’ll find on the Xiaomi 17T Pro and beating the S26’s 3x optical lens handily. Images are crisp thanks to optical image stabilization (OIS), and shooting in portrait mode at 5x makes for some great street photography. The F9 Ultra is also a phone that’ll come in handy when you’re sitting up in row Z at your next Harry Styles concert thanks to digital zoom up to 100x, though things look patchy after 30x.

The 50MP ultra-wide lens is the weakest of the three cameras, but that’s usually the case on triple-lens phones. In broad daylight, images are very usable, but without OIS, the smaller sensor size shows its limitations in low light, with noise and grain.

The 32MP selfie shooter is solid for solo and group snaps, and works as you’d expect for video calls.

Speaking of video, the main lens can record at up to 4K at 60fps, or even 8K at 30fps. 4K 60fps is great to see, though the Snapdragon chipset here is probably capable of 4K 120fps, like you’ll find on the aforementioned Xiaomi 17 Ultra and the cheaper 17T Pro. This is a case of Poco limiting its hardware’s capabilities in software, which is a shame, even if most users won’t notice.

That said, the camera app is fully featured and well designed, with an accomplished Pro mode offering the ability to shoot in RAW for those who want to edit images later on their computer.

• Camera score: 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Camera samplesFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuturePoco F9 Ultra review: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is still excellent
• Nothing slows this thing down
• Bose audio is fun but not a gamechanger

Performance is where Poco phones really shine, and the F9 Ultra is the most performant Poco phone yet. Its flagship-level specs include the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, though this is the same chipset as you'll find in the F8 Ultra. Poco explained this decision to us, so you can see if you agree with the firm's reasoning, but it does appear as though the launch of the F9 series was brought forward this year, because Poco has opted to not use the next-generation flagship Snapdragon chipset, which is usually unveiled in October.

The base $799 / £899 F9 Ultra comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, though there are also 512GB and 1TB storage options available, each offering 16GB RAM. Poco sent me the latter for review, which retails for £1,199 — notably less than the 12GB/256GB Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is £1,279. So, despite some price rises, Poco is still delivering value here for those after the very best specs for the money.

Performance follows, too. I could not get the F9 Ultra to stutter, even when playing Genshin Impact with the settings maxed out — the Pixel 11 Pro XL, by contrast, can’t even load the game.

The impressive thing about the F9 Ultra is its sustained performance under load. Where rival phones can stutter after half an hour or so on Call of Duty: Mobile, the Poco soldiers on (pun intended) without breaking a sweat. The phone didn't overheat once during my time testing it, presumably thanks to the built-in cooling system that Poco says reduces strain on the CPU.

Audio is great thanks to two stereo speakers and the addition of a subwoofer next to the cameras. This is tuned by Bose thanks to a partnership, and promises deeper bass and a wider soundstage. Compared to the Pixel 11 Pro XL and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, the Poco F9 Ultra sounds much fuller when playing music out loud or listening to gaming audio, though I don’t think this is a reason to buy the phone. The Bose partnership improves audio slightly, but you will still want headphones connected via Bluetooth for most things.

Now that you can no longer buy the identically priced OnePlus 15 in the US or UK (RIP), the F9 Ultra would have been your best bet for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-level power, but the previous-gen F8 Ultra offers incredibly similar performance and is available at the time of publication for £649.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Software

(Image credit: Future)

• HyperOS 3 based on Android 16 at launch
• Some AI tools require account sign in
• Four years of Android updates, six of security

The F9 Ultra gets Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3 Android skin, which at launch is based on Android 16, rather than the latest version, 17. Poco says the phone will get four platform updates, presumably to Android 20, and six years of security updates to keep buyers going until 2032.

HyperOS changes the look of Android to feel a little more like the iPhone’s iOS, but that’s no bad thing as it is perfectly functional, if a little cluttered at times. It’s a shame to see bloatware installed on a phone of this price, with AliExpress, Amazon Music, TikTok, and a few others pre-installed, but they can all be removed.

Going the way of iOS, notifications are a swipe from the left while quick settings are from the right. After I’d wrangled the software a bit during setup, I got it looking cleaner with more icons per row and fewer folders full of apps that are initially presented.

What is thankfully not shoved in your face is AI, even though there is a lot of it on board. There’s a whole section in the settings app called Xiaomi HyperAI, which directs you to Google’s built-in Gemini platform, as well as Xiaomi’s own branded AI tools.

(Image credit: Future)

AI Dynamic Wallpapers, AI Writing to generate text, AI Speech Recognition to transcribe audio, AI subtitles for videos — AI everything! In the Gallery app, there are some capable AI editing tools, including a beautify mode that works well. But others, such as an Ultra HD toggle or an Expand feature to generate images, require you to sign in to a Xiaomi account within the settings app.

HyperOS is visually quite different to Google’s Android flavor on the Pixel or the now-barely-seen ‘stock’ Android look, but I’ve warmed to it in recent months. It’s perfectly functional, and mercifully lets you swipe down on notifications to expand them, unlike on fellow Xiaomi stablemate Redmi’s phones.

The software is also very responsive on this hardware. Menus flow, and apps open instantly. I saw and felt no difference between the F9 Ultra and other, more expensive Android flagship phones. It feels faster than Samsung’s S26 series in many ways, though that could be down to Samsung’s slower default animations.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Poco F9 Ultra review: Battery

(Image credit: Future)

• Two- to three-day battery life
• 100W fast charging but no charger in UK box
• 50W wireless and 27W reverse wired charging

The F9 Ultra has a whopping 8,050mAh silicon-carbon battery. This new tech means phone makers can put higher-density batteries in phones than they could with lithium-ion, resulting in devices of the same physical thickness that last for much longer. Using the F9 Ultra as my main phone for more than a week, I consistently got two days of use out of it, sometimes stretching into a third day’s morning.

That’s seriously good longevity, made even more impressive by the phone’s flagship specs. It’s capable of 100W wired charging, but there is frustratingly no charger in the box for UK buyers. I tested the charging speed of the F9 Ultra using a Vivo 100W charging brick with the ‘Top Speed’ charging setting turned on.

The phone went from dead to 100% in 95 minutes, which is impressive for a battery of this size, and it got to 27% in 15 minutes. You’ll have to fork out for a compatible fast charger, which is a little galling when you’re laying down at least $799 / £899.

The phone also has 50W wireless charging — faster than the S26 Ultra can do via a wired connection (45W) — and can even be used as a power bank for other devices thanks to 27W wired reverse charging and 22.5W reverse wireless charging.

A few phones on the market go for longer, like the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max, but the Poco F9 Ultra gets top marks here for stonking battery life paired with top-tier specs.

Here are the phone's charging speed results broken down:

• In 15 minutes: 27%
• In 30 minutes: 46%
• 0-50%: 33 minutes
• 0-100%: 95 minutes

• Battery score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Poco F9 Ultra?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

The Poco F9 Ultra offers top specs for a lower price than many of its competitors, but the F8 Ultra has the same chip for less.

4/5

Design

While a refinement on the F8 Ultra, the design is sleek and is as manageable to hold as large phones get.

4/5

Display

A superlative 185Hz display that usually tops out at 120Hz, save for some games. Great peak brightness and extensive customization options.

5/5

Software

HyperOS 3 is a mature and easy to use software skin, though launching on the older Android 16 stings. AI stays out the way if you want it to, which is a win.

4/5

Cameras

Very capable triple cameras led by a 200MP main sensor are a year-over-year upgrade, though they rank a tier below the very best on the market. Still excellent in this price range, though.

4/5

Performance

Incredible performance thanks to Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and up to 16GB RAM. Sustained performance under load is notably great thanks to strong thermal management. An exemplary gaming phone.

5/5

Battery

Some of the best battery life on a phone with flagship specs thanks to enormous silicon-carbon cell and fast charging, though no charger in the box (in the UK).

5/5

Buy it if...

You want the best battery life on a flagship phone
Two days of battery life with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phone is possible with this phone; you may even get three days with careful use. This is the best you can get in the UK with these specs.

You want top gaming performance
No game can bring this thing down. If you fire up triple-A mobile games every day, the F9 Ultra should be at the top of your shopping list.

You want a great, large display
There aren’t many better displays on a smartphone. It’s best suited to mobile gamers, but the 6.9-inch size is strangely manageable thanks to good handset design.

Don't buy it if...

You want to spend as little as possible on these specs
Poco sells a very similar product for less in the F8 Ultra, which is still on sale.

You want the best cameras in this price range
While very capable, you can get better cameras on the Xiaomi 17T Pro for less.

Poco F9 Ultra review: Also consider

The Poco F9 Ultra is a strong phone in its price range, but there are a couple of similarly priced options worth considering alongside it:

Xiaomi 17T Pro
This phone has very similar specs to the Poco and costs £100 less. It lacks the Snapdragon chip, but has better-tuned cameras and longer software support.

Read our full Xiaomi 17T Pro review

Oppo Find X9 Pro
A phone with noticeably better cameras and very comparable performance is on sale at the time of writing for £899, the same price as the F9 Ultra.

Read our full Oppo Find X9 Pro review

Poco F9 Ultra

Xiaomi 17T Pro

Oppo Find X9 Pro

Price:

$799 / £899

£799

£1,099 (£899 on sale)

Display:

6.9-inch OLED

6.83-inch OLED

6.82-inch OLED

Cameras:

200MP main; 50MP ultra-wide; 50MP 5x telephoto

50MP main; 12MP ultra-wide; 50MP 5x telephoto

200MP main; 50MP ultra-wide; 200MP 3x telephoto; 50MP 10x telephoto

Chipset:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

MediaTek Dimensity 9500

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Battery:

8,050mAh

7,000mAh

7,050mAh

How I tested the Poco F9 Ultra

• Review test period: Two weeks
• Testing included: Everyday use with messaging, web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music streaming
• Tools used: Geekbench 6, 3DMark

Why you can trust TechRadar

☑️ 100s of smartphones reviewed
☑️ 15 years of product testing
☑️ Over 16,000 products reviewed in total
☑️ Nearly 200,000 hours testing tech

I tested the Poco F9 Ultra over the course of two weeks, using it as my main phone with my main SIM card for a week, and as a secondary phone on other days. I used it to make calls, send WhatsApp messages, take video calls, play mobile games, stream podcasts and music, and take scores of photos.

I tested the performance of the phone’s display, chipset, cameras, and battery life for this review, comparing results with Poco’s claims as well as my decade of experience reviewing Android smartphones professionally. I’ve used many of the most recent Android flagship devices the F9 Ultra is gunning for.

I also ran benchmark tests using the Geekbench 6 and 3DMark apps to qualify my performance assessments of the phone.

Read more about how we test here.

• First tested September 2026

As summer fades and fall approaches, it's the perfect time to take a step back, assess your workspace, and add some items for elevated focus and comfort. A functional, clear, and relaxing work environment can shift our daily mindset – so I've curated six seasonal additions for my own home office space.

This isn't a start-from-scratch list; you'll find no desk or office chair recommendations here. Instead, I offer considered pieces, each selected to bring refined warmth to your everyday routines.

These are all items I'll personally be adding to my desk in the coming weeks. I hope they bring a touch of comfort and a sense of luxury to your workday, too.

Yajishsjaz Hammered Decorative Gold Tray

blomus Kumi Stoneware Mug

Riedel Veloce Crystal Water Glass

Salt & Stone Salt & Stone Coconut & Soy Blend Scented Candle

Bose Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Headphones

YSAGi Leather Desk Mat

The Supreme Court has rejected Trump's mail-in voting restrictions ahead of the midterm elections. And, the Kennedy Center says it is on the brink of bankruptcy and could close soon.

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon)

• Five-sixths of a financial advisor's time is spent doing prep and admin
• Claude for Financial Advisors is an assistant that sits on top of existing tools
• Anthropic is offering a one-time usage credit to new Enterprise customers

Just days after rival company OpenAI announced its own upgrades targeting the financial services, Anthropic has lifted the wraps off Claude for Financial Advisors.

It adds a layer of connectors and pre-built workflows on top of Claude designed to support wealth management and financial advice firms, giving them quicker and more direct access to the relevant research and data.

According to the company, financial advisors currently only spend around one-sixth of their time in client meetings, with the rest of their time largely taken up by preparing and researching.

Claude could speed up five-sixths of a financial advisor's work

The idea is that Claude for Financial Advisors sits on top of the firm's existing stack, acting as a hub to pull everything together. An advisor could ask something like 'prepare me for my 2pm client review' and the assistant will pull in relevant context as well as wrap up a meeting with notes and follow-up tasks.

Addepar, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, Envestnet, iCapital, Orion, SS&C Black Diamond, Wealthbox, Wealth.com, Vanguard and Zocks are among the first connectors being added to the tool.

The benefits are two-fold, both in terms of productivity but also what firms can do with that unlocked time, as Anthropic explains: "Practices can expand their customer base, and offer more of the services they need, like tax, estate, insurance, and retirement planning."

The company stressed that its assistant is intended to support, not replace, advisors, by handling the repetitive administrative work and giving them time to do what they trained for.

While the tool is available as a plugin now, the Claude maker suggests that Enterprise plans may be better suited to the financial sector in general because of the additional audit logging.

Finally, the company is also offering a one-time usage credit to new customers requesting a license before the end of September.

• IGN asked Valve if the RAM crisis would impact the Steam Deck 2
• Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais said "not really", but added: "It's just a matter of looking at the current conditions and seeing how and when we can deliver"
• This is effectively saying that the spec won't be compromised, but the release timeframe might slide

Valve is sticking with its plan for the Steam Deck 2 in terms of ensuring that the sequel will be a proper generational leap compared to the existing handheld.

IGN interviewed Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais (along with Jeff Leinbaugh) and brought up the subject of whether the RAM crisis – which appears to be intensifying in an unpleasant manner as this year rolls on – would affect the Steam Deck 2.

When asked if the memory supply shortage had changed Valve's plans for the sequel of the Steam Deck, Griffais said "not really", adding "We've talked before about how we want to make sure there's a very delineated performance improvement for something like a future Steam Deck, and I think we're still looking at it in the same way."

Griffais continued: "It's just a matter of looking at the current conditions and seeing how and when we can deliver something like that. But from what we're working on, as far as the user experience goes and what the product that we're trying to build goes, it's very similar goals."

In other words, Valve still wants to make the Steam Deck 2 a major leap in handheld performance, and the only thing that pricier components (not just system RAM, but other elements of the device) will mean is that the "when" of the delivery timing might be altered.

So, I read this as essentially hinting that the release timeframe could be pushed back, but ultimately the spec of any Steam Deck sequel is not going to be messed with due to any component price rises.

Analysis: value is more important than timing

(Image credit: Valve)

I think this is a sensible stance. Having clearly laid out its stall from the get-go, shortly after the launch of the Steam Deck, in terms of making the sequel a considerably more powerful handheld, Valve can't go back on that really.

Well, it could, but it wouldn't be a good look, and I think this is basically what Griffais is getting at with that key "how and when we can deliver" comment. The Steam Machine being released at a less-than-ideal price hasn't done Valve's reputation any favors, and a lot of gamers have been seriously disappointed with the end result in terms of value there. I don't think that Valve can take the risk of a repeat performance with the Steam Deck 2, as that'd further erode the goodwill of gamers.

Personally, I'd prefer Valve to wait until after the RAM crisis has (mostly) blown over before introducing the Steam Deck sequel – even if that means a long delay, and the memory shortage continues for the rest of this decade (as some are predicting). I'd rather have a performant handheld with a palatable price tag – and wait however long that may take – than something that's expensive arriving sooner.

It sounds like Valve is very much thinking along those same lines, perhaps not surprisingly given that RAM-driven price hikes have reportedly had quite a negative impact on Steam Deck sales in recent times.

• PUBG: Dednet was revealed at Gamescom 2026
• The upcoming shooter has roguelike elements and crazy abilities
• Creative director Dave Curd says the game is meant to bring the franchise "to an audience that hasn't historically connected with it."

Upcoming PUBG: Battlegrounds spinoff Dednet is intended to bring the franchise to a whole new audience. Revealed at Gamescom 2026, Dednet is a multiplayer shooter with a smattering of roguelike elements.

Speaking to TechRadar Gaming at the show, creative director Dave Curd explained how Dednet fits into the wider battle royale franchise.

"We're already getting into what PUBG is as an IP and what makes PUBG, PUBG," he said. "For me, it's not necessarily a closing circle or a level three helmet. PUBG is desperate survival. It's a dark sense of humour. It's survival of the fittest.

"Dednet is kind of my attempt at spreading the gospel of PUBG to an audience that hasn't historically connected with it."

Curd also said that the game is being "developed console first" with matches that unfold at a much faster pace. "We're faster, leaner, and meaner, taking more fights and coming back."

Persistence is an important part of the formula too, with each match progressing you in a way that carries forward into the next.

He continued: "Between every match, you're gaining crazy abilities like sliding like a snake or having blade hands, and you're also gaining funny injuries like fumbling your weapon or sneezing in smoke. All on your way to chase a perfect build."

He described the team's overall mission as "to create an unhinged, f***** up adult sandbox" that allows "players [to] tell interesting stories."

In the same interview, the creative director also touched on how the '90s-inspired multiplayer shooter stands out with its zany abilities and unique style.

Although there's no official release date yet, players can pre-register for the closed beta now for an early taste of the action.

Amazon has announced that its Prime Big Deal Days sale will return for another year, effectively kicking off the Black Friday sales season on October 6 - 7.

• Browse all early deals at Amazon

The event is similar to its regular Prime Day sale in the middle of the year, with 48 hours of deals exclusively available for Prime members. Whether it's your first time hearing about it or you're a regular, I've brought together everything you need to know.

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 — key info

(Image credit: Amazon)

When is it? October 6 - 7
What is it? A 48-hour sale exclusively for Prime members
Who's involved? Expect deals on Kindles, Blink, Ring, Fire TV, Shark, Ninja, Lego, Braun, and many more.

As we've come to see over the last few years, Amazon has hosted the Prime Big Deal Days sale mainly as a teaser of what to expect from the retailer's full Black Friday sale in November. While it's not made up of all the exact same deals, many products do pop up again in the later sale, which can help you plan any spending you want to do.

In its announcement, Amazon has confirmed several featured brands, including Lego, Shark, Braun, Anker, and many more, with new deals promised across tech, home, fashion, toys, and essentials each day. It's almost guaranteed that many of its own-brand tech will feature in the sale, too, such as Blink, Ring, Fire TV, and Kindle.

Even with recent price hikes, I'm hopeful that we'll at least see a few products down to record-low prices in the sale — or at least the cheapest we've seen them so far this year. That'll be more likely with Amazon products, though, so I wouldn't expect any out-of-this-world bargains on RAM or storage, for example. Sorry to dash any hopes.

Still, there should be some strong deals available in some categories — and we'll be here to bring you all of the very best ones we recommend right here at TechRadar. And if you want to be prepped for the sale, new subscribers can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime.

Reports that cameras intended for Royal Navy drones contained Chinese-made components sending “heartbeat” signals to China sound like the opening of a spy thriller. The reality is more mundane, but arguably more useful as a warning.

There is currently no evidence that Ministry of Defence data, imagery or classified systems were accessed or exfiltrated. Routine cyber testing reportedly identified third-party camera components sending automated heartbeat communications to an IP address in China, after which internet connectivity to the affected camera subsystems was removed and the vulnerabilities closed.

So, based on what we know today, this is not a story about confirmed data theft. It is a story about something potentially much more widespread. How little organizations can know about what is happening several layers down in their technology supply chains.

When insignificant data becomes intelligence

A heartbeat signal sounds fairly innocuous. A device is effectively saying: “I’m alive.”

The danger is assuming that because the data looks insignificant, it has no intelligence value.

Basic telemetry can potentially disclose device presence, uptime and temporal patterns. You could see when something comes online, how long it remains active and whether there are patterns in when it is being used.

None of that necessarily tells you much in isolation. Intelligence, however, rarely comes from one perfect piece of information. It comes from joining lots of apparently insignificant pieces together.

Combine those signals with OSINT, SIGINT, routing metadata or knowledge of exercises and deployments and they could potentially contribute to a much richer picture.

That does not mean this incident exposed Royal Navy locations, personnel or operational movements. There is no public evidence to support that conclusion.

But it shows the question is more than “Did sensitive information leave the system?” We also need to ask “What could somebody infer from the information that did?”

With cameras and other connected sensors, there is another consideration. If you discover an unexpected external communications path, you need to understand what it can do. What has already travelled across it is only part of the picture. You also need to know what the component could potentially transmit.

‘Buy British’ misses the point

The instinctive response to supply-chain concerns is often greater sovereignty. But telling defense companies to simply “buy British” misunderstands how modern technology is built. Pull apart a supposedly trusted product and the processors, cameras, communications modules, microcontrollers and firmware inside it may originate from suppliers scattered around the world.

Modern defense capability has effectively become a giant systems-integration exercise conducted across global technology supply chains.

Defense organizations may have a strong understanding of their Tier One suppliers. However, visibility can deteriorate considerably at Tier Two, Tier Three and beyond, precisely where specialist manufacturers, smaller technology providers and software dependencies enter the system.

You can perform assurance to the nth degree. The problem is doing it across every component in every system without making innovation painfully slow and expensive.

That is particularly difficult for startups. Switching from a commercial component to a sovereign or trusted alternative can mean higher costs and longer lead times, but also hardware redesign, software changes, testing and recertification.

Ukraine has changed the economics

This tension is becoming more important because modern conflict is simultaneously pushing defense towards technologies that benefit from rapid commercial development.

Ukraine has demonstrated the military value of relatively inexpensive unmanned systems that can be produced, modified and replaced quickly. They do not eliminate the need for sophisticated missiles or high-end platforms, but they are changing the economics of warfare.

Future militaries will need exquisite capability, but they will also need technology that can be manufactured at scale and adapted rapidly as battlefield conditions change.

Commercial off-the-shelf components help make that possible.

That creates a fundamental tension at the heart of strategic autonomy. The global technology ecosystem that allows defense companies to innovate quickly and relatively cheaply can create exactly the dependencies governments are attempting to reduce.

Scrutinize what can see, think and communicate

Risk should be determined by what a component can actually do, not simply which country appears on the label.

The questions I would ask are: what can it see? What can it do? Can it communicate independently? Can its behavior be changed?

A connected, programmable camera warrants considerably greater scrutiny than a passive component. Cameras, radios, sensors and communications modules deserve particular attention because they can collect or process information, run firmware and potentially create communications paths of their own.

Programmable sub-components are another area of concern because their behavior can potentially be altered through software or firmware.

As defense moves further into AI, the same principle will increasingly need to extend beyond physical hardware. Assurance will need to consider where models came from, what data they depend on, who can update them and how their integrity is maintained.

Design for things you cannot see

Supply-chain assurance should not be the only defense. Architecture matters too. If a component does not need internet access, why give it internet access?

If a camera only needs to communicate with another system locally, restrict it to that. Network segmentation, telemetry suppression, tightly controlled communications paths and air-gapping where appropriate can all reduce the consequences of unexpected behavior.

There is also a strong argument for a shared repository of vetted components from trusted manufacturers and vendors. This could include a Bill of Materials (BOM): a formal, nested inventory of software and hardware components. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) promotes BOMs to improve supply-chain security, increase transparency and accelerate vulnerability management.

But such a repository cannot become a static approved shopping list. Firmware changes. Manufacturers substitute components. Vulnerabilities emerge. Supply chains move. Trust must therefore be continuously maintained rather than awarded once. This ongoing assurance is ultimately what identified the Royal Navy issue.

Perfect knowledge and assurance of every component is neither realistic nor economically viable if it makes defense innovation impossibly slow.

What we need instead is explicit, risk-based assurance of trusted manufacturers and vendors. Understand which components and software present the greatest threat, scrutinize them accordingly, and use architectural controls and ongoing assurance to reduce exposure elsewhere.

Strategic autonomy goes far beyond where a platform was assembled or which flag sits above the company that built it. What this incident highlights is the risk when an unvetted external communications path exists inside technology intended for a military platform. Sometimes good cybersecurity comes down to asking the simplest question: why is this thing talking to the internet at all?

We've featured the best endpoint protection software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Instax Pal 2 unveiled with new design that sings Kodak Charmera
• It's more camera, mind you, and costs from $170 / £144.99 / AU$249
• There are two colorways at launch; black (with silver trim) or white

Instax has clearly taken note of the Kodak Charmera digital keychain camera's viral popularity and wants a piece of the action. Enter: the new Instax Pal 2. Its new look is a major departure from the original golf ball-like Instax Pal — so much so that this camera could have had an entirely new name — and is instead all retro vibes.

There's plenty going on in the tiny 1.5oz/ 41g body, mind you; twin displays (a top down 1-inch LCD screen, and a simple cutout optical viewfinder), a wind lever that adds an Instax frame around your photos, a film simulation dial with five picture styles (each with six unique effects), plus a slide out USB-C port for charging / connecting directing to a smartphone to upload your snaps.

Instax says there's enough built-in memory to store 100 photos — which are 10.7MP and captured through a tiny 1/3.06-inch sensor — plus a micro SD card slot. The digital-only camera is also equipped with Bluetooth for wireless smartphone connection and printing, with direct support for Instax Link printers (a new Wide Link 2 printer was announced at the same time as the camera).

The Pal 2 has a built in USB-C that extends out of the camera, and can be used for a direct connection to a smartphone for image uploads (Image credit: Fujifilm Instax)Should toys be this expensive?

The Instax Pal 2 carries on from where the Fujifilm X half and Instax Mini Evo Cinema left off: it's majorly quirky and packed with charm. However, it feels like too much camera, with too high a price tag, to hit the sort of sales heights of the Charmera, or even the screen-less Camp Snap cameras.

The Instax Pal 2 is easy on the eye, but sadly less so on the wallet — it comes in at $170 / £149.99 / AU$249 (while the Charmera is a mere $35 / £35 / AU$55). You can choose from two colorways: black with silver trim (pictured), or white.

I'm yet to play with the Instax Pal 2, but I'm sure it'll put a smile on my face when I do. Even without testing it out, however, I get the feeling that it misses the point of these tiny toy cameras. So far, something a little less, that costs a whole lot less, has been the recipe for success.

The debate around technology sovereignty is becoming increasingly important. As governments accelerate their adoption of AI tools and modern digital infrastructure, attention is increasingly focused on where systems are hosted, where data is stored and where technology providers are based.

These are important considerations, but sovereignty ultimately comes down to a broader question: how much control does an organization retain over the technology it depends on?

For governments, that means having visibility into how systems operate, understanding how decisions are reached, maintaining oversight of data and retaining the flexibility to adapt as circumstances change.

Technology sovereignty should therefore be measured through operational control, accountability and resilience. Geography forms part of that picture, but the ability to govern technology throughout its lifecycle is what creates lasting sovereignty.

Sovereignty is tested when circumstances change

The clearest measure of sovereignty is the level of control an organization retains when circumstances change.

Geopolitical developments, regulatory requirements, supplier changes, cyber incidents and technology failures can all place pressure on critical infrastructure. Strong technology foundations give governments the ability to respond, maintain essential services and continue making decisions with confidence.

This principle of control under distress should sit at the heart of the sovereignty debate.

Governments benefit from access to global expertise, innovation and specialist technology providers. Modern public services depend on collaboration across technology ecosystems, and this access creates significant opportunities to improve efficiency and deliver better outcomes for citizens.

The priority should be creating technology environments that preserve government control while taking advantage of this innovation. Governments need the ability to adapt systems, manage their data and make informed technology decisions as requirements evolve.

Data is the foundation of sovereign technology

The conversation around AI sovereignty often starts with the technology itself. The more fundamental consideration is the quality and governance of the data that supports it.

Public sector data often sits across departments, legacy platforms and different technology environments. Bringing these sources together can provide governments with a more complete and trusted view of the information they rely on.

This is particularly important as public bodies explore AI for areas such as fraud detection, healthcare, taxation and public benefits. These applications depend on accurate, accessible and well-governed information.

Strong data foundations also support transparency. When organizations understand where information comes from, how it is connected and how it is used, they gain greater confidence in the decisions produced by the technology built on top of it.

The effectiveness of public sector AI will therefore depend heavily on the integrity, accessibility and governance of the data beneath it.

Choice creates resilience

Technology sovereignty also depends on maintaining meaningful choice.

Governments need the freedom to adopt new technologies, work with different providers and evolve their systems as requirements change. Interoperability, open standards and portable data can support this flexibility by allowing different technologies to operate together and making future transitions more manageable.

This creates a more resilient technology environment. Individual components can evolve as better solutions become available, while the wider system continues to operate effectively.

Supplier diversity also plays an important role. A competitive technology market gives public bodies greater choice, encourages innovation and creates stronger incentives for providers to deliver value.

For critical public services, competition therefore forms part of the resilience strategy. A diverse supplier ecosystem gives governments greater flexibility and strengthens their ability to respond to changing circumstances.

AI requires transparency by design

The growth of AI makes transparency increasingly important. As these systems become more capable of supporting complex decisions, governments need clear visibility into how they operate and how their outputs are produced.

This starts with understanding the data, logic and processes that contribute to an AI- supported decision. Effective governance then provides the oversight required to monitor performance, identify issues and assess outcomes over time.

This is especially important where technology influences people's access to healthcare, taxation, benefits or other essential public services.

Explainability, auditability and human oversight provide the foundations for responsible AI adoption. They give public bodies the confidence to use increasingly sophisticated technology while maintaining accountability for the decisions it supports.

Transparency also strengthens public trust. Citizens are more likely to have confidence in technology when institutions can clearly explain how it is being used and how decisions can be reviewed.

Accountability remains with government

Governments can work with private organizations to provide infrastructure, software and specialist expertise. Public accountability remains with the government.

This makes governance an essential part of technology strategy. Procurement decisions need to consider functionality and cost alongside questions of data control, transparency, interoperability and long-term flexibility.

A technology solution should support the government's ability to understand its systems, oversee their performance and make changes as circumstances evolve.

This approach also creates a stronger relationship between government and technology providers. Clear expectations around governance and accountability give suppliers the opportunity to innovate while providing public bodies with the confidence that they remain in control of the outcomes.

Measuring sovereignty through control

Technology sovereignty should ultimately be measured by the capabilities a government retains.

Can it understand the technology it relies on? Can it assess and challenge the decisions it supports? Can it access and manage its data? Can it adapt its systems as requirements change? Can it maintain essential services during periods of disruption?

These questions provide a practical framework for assessing sovereignty.

The objective is to create technology environments that combine innovation with control. Governments can benefit from global technology, specialist expertise and rapidly developing AI capabilities while retaining the governance, flexibility and resilience required to serve citizens effectively.

The strongest sovereign technology environments will give governments confidence in the systems they operate, visibility into the decisions those systems support and the flexibility to evolve as circumstances change.

Ultimately, technology sovereignty is about maintaining operational authority. It is about giving governments the capability to understand, govern and adapt the technology that supports essential public services.

Sovereignty is measured by the control an organization retains over its technology, its data and its decisions.

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In 2025, the Trump administration ended a long-running program to collecting air pollution data at U.S. embassies. A new study suggests that led to a 24-33% increase in local pollution levels.

(Image credit: Photo by Melvin James Urubio/NurPhoto)

• Unsupported database management software is increasingly risky from a security point of view
• The biggest barriers preventing organizations from upgrading include cost and complexity
• Businesses aren't happy with current inefficiencies, downtime and latency

An overwhelming majority (97%) of US database administrators are running obsolete software, according to the latest State of Open Source Database Management Report by Percona.

But organizations aren't neglecting upgrades, because the report warns that upgrading a production database can actually be a major and risky project that may even impose more operational risks than running unsupported software.

For many, the cost alone is a major obstacle, with substantial engineering time, testing, infrastructure changes and cloud changes all adding to the total cost of change.

Why are so many US organizations using outdated database software?

Percona highlighted that upgrading a database isn't as simple as installing a software update, because in most cases, it would require an entire cross-stack migration involving other pieces of software and subscriptions.

Nearly one in three (31%) said cloud costs are their biggest barrier to reducing the total cost of ownership of their database estates, but licensing costs (23%), tool sprawl (17%) and vendor lock-in (12%) were also major worries.

The report cites MySQL as a key example, highlighting how the major architectural changes involved with 8.0 made it a technical nightmare for 5.7 users to upgrade.

However, while the change itself can be a costly, and frankly massive, one, remaining on unsupported database management software creates its own security risks. This is especially pronounced because databases can often contain an organization's most valuable and confidential information.

There is a motive to upgrade, though, because 42% of Percona's respondents cited inefficiency as a current drawback, with downtime (40%) and latency (35%) also slowing them down.

Looking ahead, the first stage is for companies to actually plan their migrations rather than continue to postpone them. It's only by starting the ball rolling that they can begin to explore how to consolidate stacks and improve overall efficiency and costs.

• StarCraft will have the same "gritty" vibes as the original real-time strategy (RTS) game
• General manager and creative director Dan Hay says the game was also influenced by the "interstellar western" of the original
• Associate manager of development operations Annalee Hartling says watching the trailer was "emotional"

StarCraft will adopt the same "gritty" atmosphere of the original real-time strategy (RTS) game, according to Blizzard Entertainment.

If you missed it, a new StarCraft game was announced at BlizzCon 2026, but unlike its predecessors, the title will take a new turn for the franchise and is a story-driven open-world shooter.

Speaking to TechRadar Gaming at BlizzCon, StarCraft general manager and creative director Dan Hay discussed the action-packed CGI trailer that debuted at the event and revealed the team's inspirations for the sequel.

"What I loved about StarCraft, the original, was that it was gritty, that it felt like it was on a frontier," Hay said. "It felt like a western. It felt like an interstellar western. That's what it felt like to me."

He continued by reminiscing about his time playing the original RTS game, explaining that he wanted to adapt the experiences he had in the new StarCraft, including the music, characters, and lore.

"From the music, to the characters that I met, to the people that I ran into, to the moments that I had, to the entire lore of it, it felt like a gritty, sometimes dirty, [and] not ] perfect world, and it made the asymmetry of the different factions feel even better because it felt very real. Because our real world has asymmetry to it.

"And so I think leveraging that and putting that into this world was key for us."

Associate manager of development operations Annalee Hartling also shared her reaction to the trailer, saying that the moment you see the barracks flying in and touching down, not from a top-down perspective, but a more intimate angle, was "the most impactful portion of it" for her.

"Living that moment was like my childhood, you know?" Hartling said. "My early days of gaming had come alive. I'm like, 'This is what I've been waiting for.' I wanted to see that and have that emotion of, like, this barracks hitting the ground and then opening up, and I'm able to walk out and look. Oh my goodness, that is incredibly powerful for a player.

"I think, at least from my point of view, it's emotional, it's fascinating, and it's beautiful. So having that perspective of being boots on the ground down there, seeing it all happen, and then whatever else happens to be outside those doors when you come through the barracks."

StarCraft is slated to launch in 2030.

Enterprises should be able to change models without rebuilding workflows, surrendering institutional knowledge, or losing control of the intelligence that differentiates them. AI strategy discussions often begin with the same question: Which model is winning? The answer changes with every new model release, as new capabilities emerge and the new competitive order shifts again.

From our work deploying AI tools across some of America’s largest healthcare enterprises, I believe this feature-spotting whiplash is distracting organizations from a much more useful question: If the model you rely on changes or becomes unavailable tomorrow, can your AI operation continue without disruption?

Every enterprise needs an exit strategy from any single AI model. This does not mean moving away from frontier models, which will remain an important part of the enterprise AI stack. The point is to ensure that an organization’s workflows, intellectual property, and institutional intelligence never become dependent on one model or provider.

Models are becoming infrastructure

The leading foundation models are extraordinarily capable, but their capabilities are also converging. A feature that distinguishes one provider today is often available from several others within a matter of weeks, sometimes even days.

We saw a similar evolution with cloud computing, where access to compute became essential but rarely created lasting competitive advantage on its own. The advantage came from what organizations built on top of it: their applications, data, operating processes and proprietary knowledge.

AI is heading in the same direction. A model should remain one component of the enterprise AI architecture. It should not become the repository for the organization’s business logic, operational knowledge or proprietary processes.

This is particularly important in healthcare, where a model may be able to summarize a clinical record or interpret a policy document, but it does not inherently understand how a particular health plan applies that policy, when a case should be escalated, which evidence a clinician needs to review, or how a decision must be documented for an audit. That intelligence belongs to the organization.

The 70/30 reality for enterprise AI

General-purpose models can often handle roughly the first 70% of a task. They can extract information, classify documents, produce summaries, answer questions, and perform broad reasoning.

The remaining 30% often determines whether an AI system is simply impressive in a demonstration or trustworthy in production. That final mile requires domain terminology, enterprise policies, specialized logic, consistent outputs, traceable evidence, evaluation against known standards, and clear escalation to human experts.

A model may correctly identify the broad clinical issue and still apply the wrong policy. It may generate a convincing explanation without giving a reviewer the evidence needed to validate it. It may also behave differently after a provider update. Those gaps sit within the final 30%, and in a regulated environment, they determine whether the system can be trusted in production.

In healthcare, this means combining specialized models built for clinical and administrative tasks with frontier models where their broader capabilities add value. The enterprise’s own knowledge, policies, evaluation systems, and governance controls should sit around those models, so the underlying model can change without taking the organization’s intelligence with it.

What model dependence looks like in production

The risks of depending too heavily on one model become much more apparent when AI moves from experimentation into production. A provider may release a new version that structures information differently, responds to instructions in new ways, or expresses uncertainty less consistently. A workflow that performed reliably during testing can then begin producing subtly different outcomes.

The change may also be commercial or operational rather than technical. Pricing can increase, latency can worsen, usage limits can affect availability, or a provider may discontinue a model on a timeline that does not align with the organization’s validation and release processes. And even if a model remains available, it may no longer be the best option for a particular workflow.

With that separation in place, an organization can evaluate different models against the same performance standards and introduce a change through a controlled process. It can adopt better capabilities as they emerge, use different models for different tasks, and change providers without rebuilding the workflows and operational knowledge around them.

An AI exit strategy Is an ownership strategy

In practical terms, an AI exit strategy means keeping several critical assets owned, governed, and portable:

• Proprietary data and enterprise knowledge
• Prompts, policies and decision logic
• Workflow definitions and orchestration
• Evaluation datasets and performance benchmarks
• Human feedback and decision history
• Audit trails and governance controls

Together, these assets form the enterprise’s intelligence layer, which captures how the organization works and makes decisions. A widely available model offers little differentiation on its own. The advantage lies in the proprietary knowledge, policies, and operational experience that shape how the model is used.

When that context is embedded in model-specific tools, proprietary features, or hosted memory systems, the organization risks losing control of the intelligence it is creating. Changing models may then require far more than replacing an API. It could mean reconstructing years of business logic, workflow design, expert feedback, and operational learning.

Defining the boundary between models and enterprises

Maintaining the separation between models and enterprises can also protect human expertise. Every interaction between an expert and an AI system creates something valuable. A clinician may correct a recommendation, a nurse may clarify how a policy should be applied, an operations leader may change an escalation path, or a compliance team may establish a new review requirement.

Over time, those interactions become institutional intelligence. It’s critical that they strengthen the enterprise rather than disappear into a provider’s platform, or become inaccessible when the organization changes models.

Warning signs of excessive model dependence

One warning sign happens when prompts and business logic are written so specifically for a particular model that they cannot be transferred easily. Another is when changing models requires redesigning the application rather than running a controlled evaluation and configuration change.

Leaders should be able to answer a basic question: What would we lose if this model became unavailable tomorrow?

Addressing these risks does not require an expensive rebuild. Enterprises can begin by separating business logic from model calls, creating standardized interfaces, maintaining model-independent evaluation datasets, documenting workflow dependencies, and storing organizational knowledge in systems they control.

They should also test model interchangeability before they need it. Running the same workflow across multiple models helps reveal hidden dependencies and gives the organization meaningful data about performance, cost, latency, and risk.

Model choice should remain reversible

We started this discussion with a question, but I believe the more important question is not only which model an enterprise should use today. Leaders must also ask how difficult it would be to replace that model tomorrow.

That is the purpose of an exit strategy. It is not preparation for abandoning AI or moving away from frontier innovation, but rather, the foundation for choice, resilience, and lasting ownership of enterprise intelligence.

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• iFi launches Go cable with DAC/headphone amp in a USB-C earbuds cable
• IEMs sold separately — it uses standard 0.78mm two-pin analogue connectors — but you can add some iFi ones into the kit for cheap
• ESS Sabre DAC supports 32-bit/384kHz and DSD256, with 70mW amplification at 32 ohms

If you didn't think ultra-portable hi-fi tech like the iFi Go Link 2 was small enough, then the British audio company's newest release in its lightweight Go series might be enough to placate you.

iFi has just unveiled its new Go Cable: a DAC and headphone jack which is literally built into an audio cable for in-ear monitors. It's available to pre-order for just $79 / £79 (about AU$160), ahead of a September 21 release.

The wire connects from a USB-C port in one end, through the DAC and headphone amp, to two 0.78mm 2-pin connectors for your favorite in-ear IEMs, though you'll have to provide those yourself. Basically, in combination, they're an active affordable audiophile alternative to the best wired earbuds with more customization.

Naturally, you might think that the iFi Go Cable could be designed for smartphones or laptops, but the brand also describes them as suitable for gaming, such as on the Switch 2. It supports microphone functionality too, so you can plug it into your controller or handheld to enjoy voice calls.

Making portable audio a little easier

(Image credit: iFi)

Specs-wise, the Go Cable seems quite similar to the aforementioned Go Link 2. It supports 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256, and outputs power at 70mW at 32 ohms. Its selling point isn't in the specs; nor is it in the on-cable microphone, playback and volume controls, though they're a neat touch.

No. The benefit is that unlike the Go Link 2, it's an all-in-one solution. The best headphone DAC/amp combos for portable devices generally require an entire set of headphones or earbuds to be separately plugged in. You have to bring your source device, your DAC/amp device and your headphones.

By acting as those latter two gadgets all in one, the Go Cable makes on-the-go hi-fi audio a little easier to achieve. That's fewer things to remember on a trip, fewer items to pack into your bag while going through airport security.

Many of iFi's technologies are used in the Go Cable. THD Compensation reduces distortion, while the ESS Sabre DAC chip provides dynamic range enhancement to improve sound by up to 6dB.

As mentioned before, you'll need to provide your own IEMs to enjoy the Go Cable, so it's not for everyone. However the brand is also selling a starter kit, which throws in a pair of AIRO Astra buds, for only $20 / £20 (about AU$40) more.

That means you're getting them for about half the price they usually cost, and then you've got plenty of time to mull on whether to get something more premium in the future — and you can just swap them onto the same cable.

The incident came less than a day after NATO leaders pledged that strikes close to the alliance's territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase support for Kyiv.

(Image credit: AP Photo)