Despite being "the same", the Poco X8 Pro and Redmi Turbo 5 may differ by up to 1,500 mAh in battery size

The Poco X7 series for reference. | Image by Poco

Tomorrow is when the Redmi Turbo 5 is expected to be unveiled in China, while global users might get it in February or March as a rebranded device called the Poco X8 Pro. The other day I told you about the latter's upcoming Iron Man Edition.

Despite that Poco and Redmi are both Xiaomi's sub-brands, the two aforementioned phones won't be exactly the same, as the global variant might come with a far smaller battery.

There's also a new chipset on board, allegedly.

The Dimensity 8500-Ultra

MediaTek doesn't go into deep details about the Dimensity 8400-Ultra (which was found in the Poco X7 Pro) or the Dimensity 8500-Ultra that some promotional materials are now pointing to. Per reports, the Dimensity 8500-Ultra is a variant of the recently unveiled Dimensity 8500, but the Ultra could stun with an "all-big-core" chip design, similar to the Dimensity 9500s.

As I recently reported, the Dimensity 9500s centers on an octa-core CPU led by a Cortex-X925 running at up to 3.73GHz, paired with high-performance Cortex-X and Cortex-A720 cores instead of traditional efficiency cores. To keep power use and heat in check, MediaTek relies on a large 19 MB CPU cache and a 10 MB system cache, reducing memory access, lowering latency, and improving efficiency in everyday tasks like browsing and app switching.

If MediaTek applies a similar approach to the Dimensity 8500-Ultra, it could mark a notable shift for upper-midrange chips. An all-big-core layout would suggest a stronger focus on sustained performance rather than balancing output with smaller efficiency cores, potentially narrowing the gap between premium and non-flagship silicon.

The Redmi Turbo 5 (a.k.a Poco X8 Pro) could utilize a software optimization system, potentially called Rage Engine 4.0. This, paired with the chipset, could lead to a 25% boost in GPU performance for popular games, which sounds impressive.

The battery situation

The thing is, Chinese users might enjoy the Redmi Turbo 5 with a 7,560 mAh battery, while the global variant (the Poco X8 Pro) might arrive with "just" 6,000 mAh… or 6,500 mAh. That's still mighty good, fret not.

The good news is that both variants are expected to support 100W wired charging speeds: trust me, that's a great feature.

Besides the battery and the chipset, this new phone (or should I say: duo?) could come with a metal mid-frame plus a glass body.

You can expect a 6.59-inch display, a 3D ice circulation thermal management system and an overall upper-midrange device.