POCO is still alive. There were several rumors about the fact that Xiaomi has shelved off POCO smartphones. However, nothing is true until you hear the official news. The scenario has changed on January 17 when Xiaomi announced that POCO will now function as an independent company. Xiaomi will no longer control and manage the operations of POCO.
Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain), who is the Managing Director of Xiaomi India took to Twitter and revealed that POCO will now be an independent brand. He added that the POCO has grown and matured well enough to retain its own identity. Manu added that the time has come to let POCO operate as a separate brand after the exciting outing with the POCO F1.
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
The move assumes great significance after Jai Mani and other founders quit the POCO brand a few months ago. The task is to appoint a top executive with great leadership qualities to take the POCO brand forward. No doubt, the year 2020 will be challenging for both Xiaomi and POCO with intense competition from companies like Realme.
That being said, the POCO F1 continues to be the successful smartphone and was launched in 50 markets globally. The tech-savvy enthusiasts are now anxiously waiting for the release of POCO F2. In a statement to the press, the official Xiaomi spokesperson revealed that POCO is now a separate company. However, they declined to reveal the exact structuring details.
Xiaomi created POCO brand and tagged it as a premium device in such a way that it competes with Samsung and OnePlus. In 2018, the company executives revealed that they are planning to release several smartphones including accessories. However, nothing happened after the official release of POCO F1 and the specifications have become outdated. As of this writing, over 300 people have employed to shape the future of POCOPHONE.
According to Counterpoint researcher Tarun Pathak, the move by Xiaomi will help them to concentrate on the forthcoming flagship smartphones. Going forward, Xiaomi will release new devices with 5G support. The freedom given to the POCO will help Lei Jun-owned company to concentrate on the Mi and Redmi series. Moreover, POCO team can also work on their own to release new devices.
The spin-off is identical to that of Realme when Oppo gave go-ahead to act as a separate company. The move has created ripples among the smartphone segment since POCO will have their own office, sales and marketing divisions. We can now expect new smartphones under the POCO brand including accessories. You will be able to purchase upcoming POCO smartphones from poco.in/in.