Xiaomi's spinoff brand Poco are to announce their next phone in only a few days, but an official teaser reveals the ‘Poco X2' to almost certainly be a rebranded Redmi K30.
Xiaomi's spinoff value-flagship Poco turned heads in 2018 with their Pocophone and its top-tier processor at a bargain price, albeit in a fairly budget plastic build and with fairly weak photographic capabilities. The Pocophone was extremely well received however, for its sheer value proposition and commitment to their fans with continued incorporation of fan ideas and requests in the software.
Much was expected of the presumed inevitable Pocophone 2 then, and many were surprised when such a phone didn't eventuate in 2019. Xiaomi launched another value-flagship in the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro, which had a greater focus on the other aspects which make a phone great resulting in a slightly higher price-point. Rumours arose of a Pocophone 2 as a rebranded K20 Pro, but were fruitless.
Pocophone fans were not satisfied with a non-Poco branded phone however, and over the last couple weeks we've begun hearing rumours and then seeing official teasers for Poco's next phone, the imaginatvely named X2. The latest teaser does a bit more than perhaps intended though and provides just enough detail for us to determine that unlike the original Pocophone, and not dissimilar to the rumours of a Pocophone 2 being a rebranded Redmi K20 Pro, the Poco X2 is in fact a rebranded Redmi K30:
It may be a little difficult to tell, what with the shadowy, silhouettey, secretive imagery, but if you compare what we can discern in this teaser with product shots of Xiaomi's Redmi K30 below, you can see that this Poco X2 is indeed a rebrand of that phone.
Xiaomi launched the Redmi K30 a month ago as a sort-of sidegrade from the excellent Redmi K20 aka Mi 9T, with a few upgrades and a few downgrades, with the primary focus on a high refresh 120hz display.
If I were to hazard a guess, this rebranding of probably the ‘Pro' variant of the K30, which switches out the 4G Snapdragon 730G for the slightly overclocked and 5G-capable, has been chosen as an opportunity to launch a low-effort, but not true sequel (yet) to the original Pocophone. Hence the ‘Poco X2' moniker rather than a full ‘Pocophone 2' treatment.
We'll learn all in only a few short days though, so stay tuned to Talk Android!
Source: @IndiaPOCO
