Poco is now an independent brand with own identity, announces Xiaomi 

In a surprising turn of events, Xiaomi on Friday announced that Poco is a stand-alone brand now “with its own team and go to marketing strategy.” We still don’t have any clarity on what all of this entails but fans and enthusiasts who’ve been religiously asking for a Poco F2 from Xiaomi for a while now, will now have to drop in their requests elsewhere. Now you know where to ask, “when is the next Poco coming,” Xiaomi India said in a tweet while ‘re-introducing’ Poco India to netizens. 

Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain was meanwhile a little more informative about why all this is possibly happening, albeit still vaguely. “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!” Manu Jain said in a statement. 

It’s a little difficult to understand what prompted the decision when the whole point of Poco, even as a sub-brand when it was launched in 2018, was trying to build something fairly unique with its own distinct identity, so to say. This is how, Poco’s the then product manager, Jai Mani, described the sub-brand. “As a small outfit within Xiaomi, we have the freedom to start from scratch, zeroing in on the product choices that matter.” 

But, why?

Poco spinning off as an independent brand leaves more questions than it answers especially when the whole point of it was to do their own thing. Except for sharing the resources part that is, Poco was fairly independent from the start. “With Xiaomi’s supply chain, operations and service infrastructure behind us, we can ensure the highest quality to our fans,” Jai Mani’s description read.  

It’s too early to talk about the impact and the future of Poco at this point of time. Xiaomi, when reached out, did not comment on any of this. So, we’re hoping to hear more from ‘team’ Poco now. So far, the newly independent brand’s Twitter bio does not reflect the changes.  

But can’t say this was totally uncalled for. The Pocophone Global head, Alvin Tse, had hinted late last year that we’ll hear something from Poco in 2020 which, obviously, raised speculations about the Poco F2 – one more time. Turns out, there was more to that ‘tease’ than just one phone. It was about the whole brand identity, and hopefully, the start of something even more exciting. More details are awaited.      

Be that as it may, 2020 seems to be the year when Xiaomi is trying to redfine itself through a number of new strategic changes - especially in India. The company has announced that it's finally ready to bring its Mi-branded premium flagship phones to India this year after a near three-year long hiatus. The last Mi-branded premium flagship to launch in India was the rather unconventional Mi Mix 2 (2017), while the last conventional product under the branding was the Mi 5 (2016). Moreover, there's hope for laptops too.

Also Read:  Xiaomi Gearing Bunch Of Premium Mi Flagship Phones For India, There’s Hope For Laptops Too