[Update: Official word] Has Poco Launcher been replaced with MIUI 12-based Custom Launcher?

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on October 07, 2020) follows:

Earlier this year, Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi India’s head, announced that Poco is now a completely independent brand. Thus suggesting that Poco will begin stepping away from Xiaomi gradually.

So far, we haven’t seen any major changes in Poco’s operations. Matter of fact, the company has introduced a couple of rebranded Xiaomi phones this year such as the Poco F2 Pro sold as the Redmi K30 Pro in China.

And now, the company launched the Poco C3 in India which shares a lot in common with the Redmi 9C that launched globally.

But this does not mean Poco will continue riding off Xiaomi’s back. We previously reported that the heads at Poco have indeed confirmed the company is working on a “Poco UI” for its devices.

Of course, the development could still be in its early stages and thus it’s hard to say whether Poco will revamp its UI entirely or keep it similar to what Xiaomi offer’s with its MIUI skin.

Moreover, some users are against certain Poco-branded software features such as the Poco Launcher. We recently saw many users taking to social platforms demanding Xiaomi to remove the Poco launcher from Redmi phones.

This was mainly due to the fact that the Poco Launcher 2.0 is riddled with bugs and issues that users should not have to deal with, especially since the standard MIUI 12 system launcher works without any major hiccups.

Speaking of which, it seems that Poco is listening to its fan base. As we mentioned earlier, the company launched the Poco C3 in India. And in an official post on Twitter, the company has mentioned one thing that has piqued our interest.

We’re referring to the words “Custom Launcher based on MIUI 12”. Prior to this, Poco has always mentioned the presence of the Poco Launcher as it is.

For reference, we have added a screenshot of the product page for the recently launched Poco X3 NFC.

As you can see, Poco mentions that the device comes with “MIUI 12 for Poco” and the “Poco Launcher 2.0”.

Of course, the company has not yet confirmed that the Poco C3 is coming with a new launcher altogether. But this “Custom Launcher” does have an app drawer, Google Discover feed, no Ads, and more.

So what does all this mean? Well, for starters, it could be nothing at all and simply might be the Poco Launcher 2.0 as it is.

Further, it may also be the new Poco Launcher 3.0 which has been in development for over a month. If that’s the case, it begs the question — why would Poco use the term — Custom Launcher?

At this point in time, it’s hard to tell. We may have to wait for Poco to cough up a few more details regarding the launcher or we will simply have to wait for users to get their hands on the device.

Of course, we will post an update once more details emerge regarding the matter. So stay tuned to PiunikaWeb to know more about the situation.

In a recent interview, a Poco executive stated that the company will not be developing its own platform for its smartphones. Instead, it will continue using Xiaomi’s MIUI platform as a base. See more details here.

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