Let us examine the evidence – while Poco’s comeback device, the X2, seemed reasonably different from anything in India (it was evidently a rebranded Redmi device that had been launched internationally), the M2 Pro and the M2 have been rather different. The Poco M2 Pro mirrored the Redmi Note 9 Pro and added a slightly different design (in terms of colors) to the mix, while the M2 seems to be the Redmi 9 Prime with more RAM and a faster charger and again in different colors, at a slightly higher price tag than the Prime.
Frowning at Realme, eyeing Flipkart
So far, so good, but these are early days
If the Poco M2’s launch is any indication, the strategy seems to be paying off. Poco’s pokes at Realme continue. At the launch of the Poco M2, the device which it was most compared with was the Realme Narzo 10. Whereas at this time last year, Xiaomi had appeared flustered by Realme’s persistence and aggressive strategy, Poco seems to have given it breathing space, so much so that Realme devices at times now do not even appear in Xiaomi’s (in)famous “competing products” slide in its presentations. If anything, Poco is more comfortable taking on Realme as it can play the “underdog” role here being a smaller brand so far – the very role Realme had taken on against Xiaomi last year. But as of now, Poco is the one stone that Xiaomi is using to target two birds – Realme and Flipkart. And right now, it seems to be very much on target.
