Xiaomi India Spins Off POCO As Independent Brand, More Details Inside

Smartphone maker Xiaomi on Friday said it is spinning off ‘POCO’ as a standalone brand. With this restructuring, POCO will run independent of Xiaomi with its own team and go-to-market strategy, a statement said. “POCO started as a sub-brand of Xiaomi in 2018 with a small team.

Its first smartphone, POCO F1, was incredibly successful and remains an extremely popular phone till date,” it added. Xiaomi Vice President and India Managing Director Manu Jain said POCO has grown into its own identity in a short span of time.

“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,” he added.

Xiaomi led the smartphone shipment tally with 27.1 per cent share in the September 2019 quarter, followed by Samsung (18.9 per cent), Vivo (15.2 per cent), Realme (14.3 per cent) and Oppo (11.8 per cent).

Xiaomi May Bring Mi Mix Alpha In India, Know Its Expected Prices, Features

Apart from this, India’s largest smartphone brand Xiaomi will bring more products under its ‘Mi’ brand as it looks to offer more premium experiences to customers. The company is also contemplating bringing in its ultra-premium Mi MIX Alpha concept phone - a smartphone featuring a display that almost completely covers the device’s body - to India.

He added that while the company has launched few Mi smartphones in India, Xiaomi will focus on stepping on the accelerator on this category. “While our Redmi franchise is more mass market, Mi devices have been about innovation. These are flagship products and we think the market is now ready and we will bring more Mi smartphones and ecosystem products to India,” he said.

In the last few years, the company has introduced products like smart TVs, air purifiers, water purifiers and smart lighting solutions in India. Reddy declined to comment on new launches planned in the connected products segment. Xiaomi has filed for patent on the wraparound display.

Interestingly, players like Samsung, Huawei and Motorola have unveiled smartphones with foldable displays. “Mi MIX Alpha is a concept phone and it includes the features that will find their way into our portfolio of smartphones. We are evaluating the commercial launch of Mi MIX Alpha globally as well as in India,” Sonal said.

Sonal said currently, there is only one production line capable of manufacturing the Mi MIX Alpha which is in China, and the China price of the device is 19,999 RMB. “So, if we were to bring this to India, after adding import duty, custom duty and other expenses, it would take the price tag to approximately Rs 2.5 lakh. There are other aspects also which would need to be worked out before this is introduced,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)