At an event in New Delhi today, Xiaomi revealed POCO, the company’s new sub-brand. Stands for ‘a little’, POCO will work independently on the product design, marketing and sales but at the same time taking advantage of Xiaomi’s existing supply chain and after-sales network.
POCO F1 is the first smartphone launching under POCO’s brand and given the hardware and price, it clearly undercuts the current affordable flagship leader, OnePlus 6.
The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 845 processor along with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and internal storage starting from 64GB and going up to 256GB. There’s LiquidCool technology as well that helps to keep the internal temperature in check and deliver sustained peak performance for extended periods.
It comes with a 20MP camera on the front, a 12MP Sony IMX363 as the primary sensor at the back with a 5MP acting as secondary. The phone has 4000mAh battery, an infrared camera on the front for face unlock, fingerprint sensor, MIUI for POCO based on Android 8.1. However, Android Pie will be released before the end of this year.
The phone will be available in three colours – black, blue, red, and a special armoured edition with a back panel made of DuPont Kevlar.
As for the price, the POCO F1 will retail at Rs. 20,999, Rs. 23,999, and Rs. 28,999 for the 6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB, and 8GB+256GB respectively. The Armoured Edition (8GB+256GB) will retail at INR 29,999. The phone will go on sale on mi.com and Flipkart on 29th August 2018, starting at 12 noon as a first sale offer, HDFC Bank credit and debit cardholders can get Rs. 1000 instant cashback.