It's almost that time of year again, folks, with Apple gearing up to show off its latest flagship phones, likely including the iPhone 18 Pro. I've been due an upgrade for a while, so I was planning on picking one up after launch, but then something happened. I received the Poco F9 Pro to check out following its launch, and honestly, I'm not so bothered about picking up the iPhone now.
For those who don't know, this is only the second generation of Poco flagship phones, following on from 2025's Poco F8 Pro and F8 Ultra. This year's model is a bit different, though, especially in terms of design, with a more subtle approach that closely resembles recent flagships from Xiaomi, the company behind the Poco sub-brand. With that said, here are four reasons why I'm planning on using the F9 Pro instead of the soon-to-be-revealed iPhone.
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Battery life and charging
It's no secret that when it comes to charging speeds and battery life, many Chinese brands have the edge over Apple. The same is very much true of the Poco F9 Pro, which offers 100W charging, juicing the phone from flat to full in well under an hour. While we don't have confirmed details on the iPhone 18 Pro's charging capabilities yet, last year's iPhone 17 Pro could only manage around 0-80% in about 45 minutes, so Apple would need to enhance the new model's hardware to match Poco's speeds.
As for battery life, the gulf is less dramatic than with charging speeds, but it's still there. I've had the Poco F9 Pro for a few days, and even after countless hours of gaming, a bit of streaming, and a touch of the ol' doomscrolling, I've only had to charge it once. That makes sense, given that it's packing a 6,330 mAh battery.
Gaming features
Given that we're predominantly a gaming site, we love any features that allow you to tinker with the settings before jumping into Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, or any of the other options from our guide to the best mobile games. With the Poco F9 Pro, you get access to Xiaomi's Game Turbo software, enabling you to tune your performance settings to suit what you're playing.
While Apple might be the market leader in the world of smartphones, its gaming-specific features are pretty lackluster. There's iOS Game Mode, but that's just an option you can toggle on and off, rather than a suite of performance options and features fit for mobile gamers. There's always a chance Apple could surprise me with new options for the fresh range of flagships, but given how little attention the tech giant has paid to gaming in recent reveals, I'm not holding my breath.
Refresh rates
On the subject of gaming, the Poco F9 Pro has a 185Hz refresh rate screen, offering super smooth visuals in compatible games. In fairness, that list of compatible games isn't incredibly long, but it does include some popular games, such as Call of Duty: Mobile and Arena Breakout. This display offers a genuine competitive advantage over other players, as you're getting more frames per second and therefore can act quicker to neutralize any threats, making it a potential future entry for our list of the best gaming phones.
I would be very surprised if the iPhone 18 Pro, or even the Pro Max version, launches with anything higher than a 120Hz display. In fairness, Apple isn't alone in sticking it out with 120Hz refresh rates; you'd get the same from any of the latest Samsung or Google Pixel flagships, but if you're an avid gamer, this feature alone makes the F9 Pro an even more tempting proposition.
Price
Admittedly, this is more of a general reason for picking the F9 Pro up over a new iPhone, as I received a review unit from the manufacturer, but it still counts. The F9 Pro is on the lower end of the price spectrum for flagship phones, coming in at $699 for the most affordable version. That isn't just cheaper than last year's iPhone 17 Pro, but also the base model iPhone 17.
With Apple having recently boosted the prices of its Mac and iPad devices, on the back of industry-wide issues surrounding the cost and availability of components, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the iPhone 18 Pro launch for an even higher price than last year's $1,099 equivalent model. We won't know for sure until the big launch in the next couple of weeks, but if the new Apple flagship is pricier than last year's model, that just makes the F9 Pro even better value for money.
It's worth noting that all this is based on the current speculation and supposed leaks surrounding the iPhone 18 Pro, and Apple could well surprise us with a massive bump to charging speeds or new software made for gamers. Still, for now, I'm opting for the Poco F9 Pro as my new daily driver, and I don't think I'm going to regret that decision.