The Pocophone F1 made quite a splash when it was announced in August 2018. It was the perfect smartphone for people who wanted flagship features and performance at a comfortable mid-range price. And now, Xiaomi is spinning it off as an independent brand.
POCO was a sub-brand of Xiaomi, similar to how Redmi is a sub-brand. But now, it will operate on its own. The news was shared in a tweet by Manu Kumar Jain, who is Global VP Xiaomi and MD of Xiaomi India.
Excited to share: #POCO will now be an independent brand!
What started as a sub-brand within Xiaomi, has grown into its own identity. POCO F1 was an incredibly popular phone. We feel the time is right to let POCO operate on its own.
Join me in wishing @IndiaPOCO all the best.
— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) January 17, 2020
What this means is that the Pocophone is not dead and lovers of the brand can expect a Pocophone F2 (or POCO F2) soon. Rumours of the yet to be announced device are already in the air.
POCO will operate with its own resources, design language, and market strategy separate from Xiaomi. ideally, this should mean that POCO phones will no longer be rebranded versions of existing Xiaomi phones, like the F1 was. But then, we do not know that for sure.