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POCO likely rebranding Redmi K40 as global POCO phone (Updated)
- According to a model number, FCC, and IMDA listings, it appears POCO could rebrand the Redmi K40 for its own release.
- This would be yet another time POCO has rebranded a Redmi device rather than release its own.
- POCO announced it became an “independent brand” in 2020, although it has released few unique phones since then.
Update: March 2, 2021 (12:12 AM ET): New evidence suggests that the Redmi K40 will be rebranded as the next POCO flagship in global markets. More specifically, the phone will seemingly be known as the POCO F3.
An FCC listing (via Abhishek Yadav) lists a POCO phone packing an almost identical model number to the Redmi. Notably, M2012K11AG is also the model number spotted on an IMDA certification late last month.
Original article: February 25, 2021 (10:03 AM ET): Back in January 2020, Xiaomi subsidiary POCO announced that it would become an independent brand. This was a welcome announcement considering the brand pretty much floundered after the release of its very popular POCO F1 phone.
However, since that announcement, the so-called independent company has made a habit of releasing rebrands of Redmi devices. Redmi is another subsidiary of Xiaomi. It’s not clear how that equals independence.
Regardless, evidence strongly suggests (via XDA-Developers) that at least one phone in the just-announced Redmi K40 series could land as a POCO device globally soon. This would follow the POCO F2 Pro, POCO X2, and POCO M2 Pro, which were all reformatted Redmi phones.
Related: We asked, you told us: Most of you hate the new POCO logo and mascot
The evidence that suggests a POCO-branded K40 phone comes from Singapore device certification organization IMDA. It shows a POCO-branded phone with specs identical to the Redmi K40. Furthermore, it has a model number (M2012K11AG) identical to the Redmi phone save for the final letter, which goes from “C” to “G”. We anticipate that the “C” stands for “China” and the “G” stands for “Global.”
While there’s nothing wrong with POCO rebranding phones for global markets, it does seem silly to make a big to-do about independence when that’s really not the case in practice. Either way, if you are interested in grabbing the newest POCO-branded phone soon, the Redmi K40 is likely what you’re going to get.