When Poco started off as a Xiaomi sub-brand in 2018 with its first smartphone, the Poco F1, nobody had an idea that the brand would become as popular as it is today, and that too with just one smartphone, the Poco F1! Well, the Poco brand is indeed very popular and there’s been a lot of speculation around the state of the brand, what with no phones or any other device after the F1, and no mention of “Poco” from anyone Xiaomi. Well, all that speculation ends today, as Xiaomi India Head, Manu Kumar Jain, announced on Twitter that Poco will now be independent smartphone brand. Check out his tweet:
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
Well, this news comes after there’s been speculation for over a year now about the Poco brand being killed. We even made a video on it, where we thought Xiaomi was intentionally killing the Poco brand to make sure the sales of the Redmi K20 phones aren’t hampered. As of today, the Poco India Twitter account has a black profile picture and the same pitch black header photo. However, it does have a hidden easter egg. If you adjust the brightness and contrast of the image, there’s text that says “Hello World!” So yes, we should see a new picture and other developments around the brand soon.
Anyway, now that Poco is an independent brand, it will be interesting to see how Poco operates as a sub-brand. There have been a lot of rumors around the next Poco smartphone, the Poco F2, or the Poco X2. The truth it, no matter what they call it, the next Poco smartphone whenever it arrives, will have a lot of hype because people have been waiting for the next Poco smartphone since what seems like forever.
There’s one more question that comes to my mind with Poco becoming an independent brand. Will this split be similar to how Realme has split from Oppo but still shares things like their smartphone designs, ColorOS, or Poco will actually become a totally independent brand? Will the next Poco phone use MIUI and other resources like Mi Store, Xiaomi’s service centers etc.? Well, these are some important questions, but the answers will have to wait. Anyway, what do you think of Poco splitting away from Xiaomi? Tell us in the comments down below.
