The new generation of POCO F9 Pro and F9 Ultra is already being revealed. They’ll be “rebranded” and cut-down Redmi K100 Pro and K100 Pro Max

Shortly after the launch of the new Redmi K100 Pro and Redmi K100 Pro Max in China, the first signs are appearing that their global versions may bring an unpleasant surprise. While the Chinese models tempt with huge silicon-carbon batteries with capacities of 8580 and 9070 mAh, the upcoming global phones under the POCO brand may get noticeably smaller batteries.

According to information from Mi Code, shared by well-known Xiaomi leaker @kacskrz, the Redmi K100 Pro could appear on global markets as the POCO F9 Pro.

And this model is said to have a battery with a capacity of only 6330 mAh. If this information is confirmed, it would be a major difference compared with the Chinese Redmi K100 Pro.

2250 mAh could simply disappear

The Chinese Redmi K100 Pro has a battery with a typical capacity of 8580 mAh according to the official specs. However, the alleged POCO F9 Pro could get only 6330 mAh according to the leak. That means a difference of up to 2250 mAh, or roughly 26 % of the capacity.

That’s no longer a negligible adjustment. Even though 6330 mAh would still be an above-average battery compared with many current flagship smartphones, users could not expect the same endurance as on the Chinese model with the same hardware.

The difference could show up especially during long gaming sessions, 5G use, high display brightness, or when using the 185 Hz refresh rate. The massive battery is one of the biggest attractions of the Redmi K100 Pro, so shrinking it would be a fairly significant hit to the appeal of the global version.

POCO F9 Ultra is said to fare better

Interestingly, the leaks point to a smaller difference for the more powerful model. The Redmi K100 Pro Max has a huge 9070 mAh battery, while its alleged global equivalent, the POCO F9 Ultra, could get around 8050 mAh.

In this case, the difference would be about 1020 mAh, or 11.2 %. Even so, 8050 mAh would still be an exceptionally large capacity on the global market, and the POCO F9 Ultra could therefore offer very above-average endurance.

Why would Xiaomi make the batteries smaller?

We still don’t know the reason. Xiaomi or POCO have not officially unveiled these global models, so the information from Mi Code should be taken as a leak, not as final specs.

In global versions of Chinese smartphones, however, hardware changes can happen for several reasons.

It may involve regional certifications, different components, internal design changes, or the requirements of specific markets. For now, it’s not clear why the difference in the F9 Pro would be so big.

It also hasn’t been confirmed whether the global version will keep all the other specs of the Chinese Redmi K100 Pro, including 100 W wired and 50 W wireless charging. At the moment, the leak mainly points to battery capacity.

POCO F9 Pro and F9 Ultra haven’t been unveiled yet

The expectation of a global launch under the POCO brand, however, isn’t entirely random. The previous generation of the Redmi K90 Pro Max appeared on global markets as the POCO F8 Ultra, and the same strategy is therefore expected for the new generation too. The currently available information points to a pair of POCO F9 Pro and POCO F9 Ultra as the global counterparts to Redmi K100 Pro and K100 Pro Max.

However, neither the official naming nor the launch date is confirmed yet. Hardware specs could also change before the official reveal. The 6330 mAh claim for the POCO F9 Pro therefore shouldn’t be considered final for now.

A big question for POCO fans

If the leak is confirmed, though, it creates a rather interesting situation. The Chinese Redmi K100 Pro offers 8580 mAh, while the global POCO F9 Pro could have only 6330 mAh. That means users would get the same phone foundation globally, but potentially a much smaller energy reserve.

For the POCO F9 Ultra, the situation is significantly more favorable. The drop from 9070 to roughly 8050 mAh is noticeable, but it would still be among the largest batteries among global flagship smartphones.

So the battery could be one of the biggest differences between the Chinese Redmi K100 lineup and the upcoming global POCO F9 series. While Redmi in China is built around extreme endurance, the global version may be much more restrained in this regard. Still, we’ll have to wait for POCO’s official reveal to know the final specs.

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