Xiaomi’s POCO brand garnered a very strong fan following ever since the launch of its first phone, the Pocophone F1, back in August 2018. However, we haven’t really heard much about POCO in the past few months and there have been rumors floating around that Xiaomi could kill off this brand. Now, an IDC analyst reveals that scrapping the POCO lineup could be in the cards after the release of the affordable Redmi K series in India.
POCO had established a very unique segment in the smartphone industry. The POCO F1 featured the flagship Snapdragon 845 processor at a never before seen sub-$300 segment. However, this year, Redmi seems to be keen to take over this market segment with the launch of the new Redmi K20 series. Given that the K series also focuses on bringing the latest Snapdragon flagship processor to the affordable market, it could be said that the new lineup replaces POCO in its market segment.
“Poco was launched to give high-end chosen few specs at mid-range prices, with clear compromises on design language. It was launched as an upgrade option for large Xiaomi base without breaking bank required to buy a flagship phone. It saw a mixed response really,” said Navkendar Singh, research director at IDC India to The Economic Times.
“But now, with this aggressive pricing of K series by Xiaomi with its absolute flagship specs, hardware, and design, the reason for the existence of Poco as a brand is in doubt,” he added.
