Xiaomi makes subsidiary of brand behind Pocophone F1

Xiaomi is turning its Poco brand into a spin-off company that will operate independently from the parent company. Xiaomi is not disclosing details about upcoming products under the Poco brand name. The brand is known for the Pocophone F1 smartphone.

Xiaomi announces its decision to spin off Poco in a statement to TechCrunch. “Poco F1 is an extremely popular phone and will remain a top model in its category even in 2020. We think the time is right for Poco to stand on its own two feet,” said Manu Kumar Jain, vice president of Xiaomi.

The only smartphone that Xiaomi released under the Poco name was the F1, from 2018. Despite the popularity of that device, an official successor never appeared. However, a ‘spiritual’ successor appeared in the form of the Mi 9T models, which appeared in other countries as a Redmi K20 smartphone. It seemed that Xiaomi felt there was no room for another brand besides Mi and Redmi.

In the past week, it appeared that Xiaomi had applied for the trademark name Pocophone F2 after all. TechCrunch speculates that Poco should target the premium market. Redmi has also been an ‘independent’ sub-brand of Xiaomi since last year, although the Mi 9T smartphones also appeared as Redmi variants.

Looking back: video review Pocophone F1 from 2018