Xiaomi's "Poco" is now its own independent smartphone brand

Back in December, when Pocophone's global head, Alvin Tse, tweeted that "You will hear more from POCO in 2020", the first thing that struck our mind was the Poco F2- the successor to Poco F1. While Poco F2 may still be on progress, Pocophone has announced something even more exciting. News from India confirms that Poco will now operate as an independent smartphone brand; it will no longer be a sub-brand of Xiaomi.

Pocophone: The story so far

Poco started as a sub-brand of Xiaomi. It first introduced itself to the world in 2018 when it launched the Poco F1. To this day, Poco F1 remains the only release from the company. To recall, Poco F1 came with flagship-grade hardware at an affordable price tag. It sort of reminded us of the OnePlus One. With the Poco F1, Pocophone was able to create a name for itself in rather a short period of time. After the Poco F1, people expected more from the brand. But those expectations were never fulfilled. In 2019, Poco didn't release a single phone yet it managed to rejoice popularity amidst people's anticipation. Even there were rumors of Poco being discontinued. Alvin Tse, the company's global head, was then deployed to lead Xiaomi Indonesia. It added fuel to the rumors. But at the end of 2019, Alvin Tse, himself, proved the rumors wrong by confirming more activities from Poco in 2020.

Also, read our review of POCO F1

Poco, an independent brand

Xiaomi has announced on Friday that "it is spinning off POCO as a standalone company". Poco will now operate as an independent brand with its own team and marketing strategy. The announcement from Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi's Vice President, and Xiaomi India's Managing, Director reads: "What started as a sub-brand in POCO has grown into its own identity in a short span of time. POCO F1 is an extremely popular phone across user groups and remains a top contender in its category even in 2020. We feel the time is right to let POCO operate on its own now, which is why we’re excited to announce that POCO will spin-off as an independent brand. Join me in wishing the POCO team the best!” Following the announcement, Poco India's official twitter handle changed its bio and display picture. It now has a separate website of its own. The official twitter handle has changed the display picture to a black background. A lot of fans that the black picture has "Hello World!" hidden within itself. Alvin Tse has acknowledged the announcement through his twitter handle. Following this announcement, there is confusion among the fans about the new structure that the Pocophone will adopt. A few months ago, we saw some top Poco officials including some of the founding members leave the brand. Will Alvin Tse continue as Poco's company's global head or will leave the company to lead Xiaomi Indonesia? We are yet to hear from Pocophone about their new structure.

Xiaomi to focus on "Mi" lineup

Xiaomi has been a big player in the low-end and mid-range segment of the smartphone market. It looks to change this by focusing on its premium 'Mi' series. The spinning off of budget "Redmi" and "Poco" as independent brands is looking like an effort from Xioami to make the flagship Mi lineup the brand image of the company. It is speculated that Redmi will be focused on entry-level devices. Poco will continue to live up to its fame of flagship killer and Mi with its flagship offerings will be the new brand image of Xiaomi. It is expected that 5G enabled smartphones will be exclusive to "Mi". How excited are you about Poco? Will Xiaomi's plan to focus on the flagship phone pay off? Share your opinion with us. Also, check out our early impressions of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite: