Weekly poll: is the Poco M2 Pro something you want or has the brand lost its way?

When the Poco brand was born, it had the reputation of a flagship killer. And while the F2 Pro is keeping that spirit alive, it costs more than its predecessor. The mid-range Poco X2 is keeping the price low, even if it can’t kill any flagships. But now there’s an even cheaper option.

The Poco M2 Pro will become available in India next week starting at CNY 14,000. The X2 goes for around INR 17,500, the F2 Pro isn’t available there yet but is one of the most affordable Snapdragon 865 phones out there (it still costs more than double the X2 price, though). In August last year you could have bought a Poco F1 for INR 18,000.

So, is a phone like the M2 Pro on-brand? If that brand is “flagship killer” then certainly not, but Poco did pivot from that to delivering lower cost incarnations of Redmi phones. The K30 Pro in the case of the F2 Pro, K30 turned into the X2 and now the Redmi Note 9S was reworked to become the Poco M2 Pro.

It’s not a simple renaming, however, the Poco version does upgrade the fast charging hardware – it supports 33 W and comes with the power brick for it while the 9S tops out at 18W.

The Redmi Note 9S is called “Redmi Note 9 Pro” in India and it's different from what global markets know as Note 9 Pro. So keep that in mind when doing price comparisons. Speaking of, Amazon India has it at exactly INR 14,000, matching the Poco.

With equal pricing, the faster charging is a nice perk and Poco is trying to go its own way with the software (which is still heavily based on MIUI). But Xiaomi models with a different name are not the only competition.

Poco M2 Pro pricing • Feature comparison with the Realme 6 Pro (which is INR 18,000)

The Realme 6, for example, is INR 15,000. It packs a MediaTek Helio G90T chipset, which has a slightly faster GPU than the Snapdragon 720G inside the M2 Pro. Also, it has a 90Hz screen (which is slightly smaller) and a 64MP main camera (vs. 48MP). The charging speed is similar at 30W, but the battery is smaller 4,300 mAh vs. 5,000 mAh.

And you can still easily find new Poco F1 units – right now the Armored Edition is INR 19,000 on Amazon India (it 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB storage, not to mention the nifty carbon fiber texture on the back). The camera and charging speed on the F1 are outdated, however.

But the F1 is from another time, the young Poco brand has changed since then. Did it change for the better – that is, will you pick up the Poco F2 Pro? Or will you pass on it?