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Ever since the inception of the Pocophone sub-brand of Xiaomi and their first phone aka the Poco F1, the Android community members welcomed it with the “flagship killer” notion. In fact, another Chinese OEM popularized this tongue-in-cheek catch phrase with their debut phone.
While Xiaomi and their Redmi lineup (now an independent company) are the inevitable budget phone kings in multiple countries including China and India, they couldn’t leave a proper impact on the pocket friendly flagship category – at least before the arrival of the Pocophone F1.
The separation of the Poco lineup from the top notch Mi series of phones was a superb management move, which actually paid off. Xiaomi took the same internal components of their mainstream flagships and bundled them with a less-premium shell with immensely competitive price tag – voila!
In one of our previous articles, we had an in-depth discussion about the successor to the Poco F1. We went through leaked firmware files as well as explored various leaks and hints to get a clear overview of the upcoming iteration of the Pocophone.
Now that Redmi is a separate entity, the recent rumors are pointing towards the release of two Redmi branded flagship phones. The Snapdragon 855 powered devices should be marketized as X20/P20/T20/K20, as hinted by Redmi CEO Lu Weibing.
A day later, Weibing finally confirmed the arrival of the K20 lineup. The ‘K’ in these performance focused phones signifies ‘Killer’, according to Lu.
Based on the evidences found inside the Xiaomi firmware, it is highly possible that one of these phones will be rebranded as Poco F2 in India and global markets. FYI, the first generation Pocophone was not officially sold in China.
Meanwhile, leakster Ishan Agarwal seconded the existence of the Redmi K lineup. He also suggested that the higher specced variant should be named as Redmi K20 Pro.
According to Ishan, the Redmi K series phones will be available in Carbon Fiber Black, Glacier Blue and Flame Red colors. The RAM and storage variations will be as follows:
- K20: 6 GB+64 GB, 6 GB+128 GB, 8 GB+256 GB
- K20 Pro: 6 GB+64 GB, 6 GB+128 GB, 8 GB+128 GB, 8 GB+256 GB
Moreover, Redmi CEO Lu indicated that the upcoming ‘Redmi’s flagship Android’ will be eligible for the beta testing of Android Q – like Mi 9 and Mi MIX 3 5G. This is another evidence of the arrival of Pocophone F2, which will share the same internal components of regular flagships from Xiaomi.
Adding more spices into the saga, Manu Kumar Jain (Global VP of Xiaomi and MD of Xiaomi India) has publicly announced the arrival of the “Flagship Killer 2.0” via his recent tweet.
Manu has congratulated the OnePlus team for releasing the OnePlus 7 series, especially the OnePlus 7 Pro as the new flagship in town. However, the subsequent mentioning about the upcoming “Flagship Killer 2.0” is a definitive homage towards the OnePlus One.
Redmi India’s official Twitter handle has shared the same promotional picture, which mentions the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC with a familiar red branding.
At this point, we can speculate that one of the K20 duos will be launched as Poco F2 in India. Need more proof? Take a look at the recent most tweet from Poco India’s General Manager.
Padawans, get ready for the next generation Pocophone. The game is on!
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