Xiaomi spin-off brand Poco launched the Poco X4 Pro 5G in India today, March 28. The phone comes rocking a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, a chip we’ve seen in multiple phones already –at a similar price point—right from the Vivo T1 5G to Motorola’s G71 5G. Curiously though, the X4 Pro 5G has a less powerful chip than the Snapdragon 860-powered X3 Pro that it is replacing and that is okay, says Poco India country director, Anuj Sharma, while speaking exclusively to Financial Express Online.
“People who are looking at pure performance of the Poco X3 Pro will obviously feel that this one [Poco X4 Pro] is not as powerful, and it is not. Compared to the Snapdragon 695, the Snapdragon 860 is at least 25-30% more powerful and that’s okay,” he says, adding “when we were making the X3 Pro, we knew that it cannot be done again, at least for the next couple of years. Nobody, not us, not anyone else can do the X3 Pro.”
Sharma believes those who bought the X3 Pro last year will probably not upgrade right away and not everyone’s keen on buying a one-dimensional phone. The idea with the X4 Pro was to offer a good mix of specs and features that would appeal to a wider audience, not just those looking for pure performance and by extension, gaming.
The X4 Pro comes with improvements in other areas, notably the screen, cameras, battery and adds 5G connectivity (7-band support) to the mix. It has a new glass design, too, all at a starting price of Rs 18,999.
“With the X4 Pro, we should be able to appeal to a lot more people, not just one section while we continue to think what we should do for the pure performance guys. That we’ll have to answer anyway, but this device probably does a lot more.”
Poco X3 Pro discontinued, Poco X3 launch plans
Should you be looking to get the X3 Pro, right now, you’re out of luck because Poco has discontinued the product. The brand ran out of most of the X3 Pro stock in Diwali itself and has had “patchy” supplies ever since.
“We don’t have any more X3 Pros,” Sharma says.
Which brings us to the next obvious question if a Poco X4 is coming anytime soon?
“Ideally yes, but we’ll have to see if we are getting the right function with that.”
The F3 GT got decent ratings on Flipkart but its higher asking price –for a Poco phone—and because it went “completely into the gaming territory”, that kind of put a slight limiter on its appeal, Sharma admits, adding “for the F-series also we will probably have to find a way of balancing both. What can we do for the gamers but how do we also not alienate everyone else?”
Poco Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagship possibility
Sharma isn’t completely sold on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip yet and feels “it needs a bit more work.” While he wouldn’t comment on speculation, it seems, chances of the Redmi K50 Gaming edition coming to India as the F4 GT appear slim at the time of writing. The F3 GT, to recall, is a rebranded Redmi K40 Gaming edition.
At the same time, he has high praise for MediaTek.
“Even last year between the Dimensity 1100 and 1200, they were able to deliver quite staggering results. The Dimensity 9000 seems to be a pretty good chip, as well, so it’ll be interesting. After a long time, you’ve got competition at the higher end as well from a base platform perspective, which hopefully should be good,” he says.
So, does that mean we’ll see Poco bringing the Redmi K50 Pro to India under a new name and with familiar Poco quirks? We will have to wait and watch out on that one.
