When Poco came into existence, Xiaomi wanted to offer some competition to OnePlus and the aim was to grab some of its market share. However, the company then went into a dormant mode after releasing only one phone and by the time it was revived in early 2020, the market dynamics had changed.
Now it not only had OnePlus to target but Oppo’s offshoot Realme had also entered the scene trying to offer Xiaomi some more competition in an already crowded market. Thus, Poco’s new primary target was Realme and not OnePlus, unlike originally planned.
Now, looks like Xiaomi’s plans of giving a leash of life to Poco has paid off. According to the Counterpoint report, Poco has pipped both Realme and OnePlus in-terms of online shipments for the month of November. Xiaomi and Samsung still hold the top two positions in the charts followed by Poco.
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#3️⃣ smartphone brand online!!! Your trust, support & feedback helped us achieve this. More to come 🥂Source: @CounterPointTR pic.twitter.com/UUINumZKTaJanuary 11, 2021
To recall, this was the time when most online platforms were hosting festive sales and Poco claims to have sold over 1 million units within the first few days of the Flipkart's Big Billion Days.
What’s the secret sauce?
Poco is a fairly young company that has gone independent from Xiaomi in late 2020 and has just 5 devices in its kitty. It has been focusing on budget and mid-segment devices starting at devices ranging from Rs 6,999 (Poco C2) and going all the way up to Rs. 18,999 - the now-discounted price of Poco X3.
Talking about a few of its bestsellers, the C2 and M2 have been doing the numbers. Poco claimed that it sold over 130,000 units of M2 on the first day of the Flipkart Big Billion days sale.
While Poco’s devices run on the same MIUI like all other Xiaomi phones and while the company calls itself ‘independent’ all the devices launched under the Poco brand are just rehashed Xiaomi or Redmi devices. Hence the only major difference that one can spot is the fact that these Poco phones do not serve ads like the other devices under Xiaomi’s portfolio. These ads have often been found obtrusive and obscene killing thus killing the user experience.
Aside, the matter of real concern would be for companies like Realme that are not only extremely aggressive when it comes to portfolio expansion and marketing. On the other hand, OnePlus that had recently entered the affordable-premium segment devices has been experiencing a lean run. There have been reports that the OnePlus Nord has quickly lost its sheen thanks to the lacklustre sales numbers and this counterpoint report seems to sort of confirm the same. Additionally, Apple's iPhone 11 and iPhone SE being available on a massive discount also meant that OnePlus’ flagship line was directly impacted.
Hence, losing out to a brand like Poco for a month should draw a few drops of sweat on many foreheads, even during this cold weather.
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