POCO F2: Poco wants its fans to know that it is “Never Going to Give You Up”

The Pocophone F1 revolutionized the smartphone market in 2018 when it brought that year’s flagship SoC – Snapdragon 845 – to an under $350 price level. The device had its shortcomings, for sure, but the pros made it successful and somewhat legendary smartphones. Since then, most fans of the brand have been waiting for a proper sequel. In 2019, POCO was put in a hiatus by Xiaomi to only return last year as an “independent” brand. Not so independent, since it has been launching a multitude of rebranded devices. POCO fans waited for the POCO F2 last year, but it never came. Instead, we have a POCO F2 Pro that was, in fact, a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro. The device was more expensive and hadn’t the same appeal of bringing “premium” specs to the mid-range price level. For instance, it had an AMOLED display but it was a standard 60Hz panel.

POCO fans have been waiting for the POCO F2 since 2019

Later in September last year, the brand introduced the POCO X3 NFC. Despite its obvious mid-range processor, some considered this handset a spiritual successor for the F1. However, there still is a part of POCO fans that wait for the true POCO F2 or Pocophone F2. Users have been craving information and “When is POCO F2 launching in India” questions have been thrown at every single AMA or interview was given by POCO India executives since 2019. Now the company wants you to know that it is “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

Twitter user Debraj Biswas spotted that “www.poco.in/f2” is actually redirecting users to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. Now, the question will really POCO “Never Gonna Give you Up?” or is it any kind of trolling? Unfortunately, we don’t have the answer right now. So far, the redirect is just a mere joke. But it may indicate that POCO will be bringing news about the POCO F2 soon. After all, the company could say that the phone is dead and buried, and ask its users to stay tuned for their next phones.

A possible POCO F3 can fill the gap left by the original Pocophone F1

Curiously, POCO F2 may be a thing of the past right now. Since the Redmi K30 Pro became POCO F2 Pro, the Redmi K40 Pro can become a POCO F30 Pro this year. Based on this, the vanilla Redmi K40 can be rebranded to POCO F3 in India. That makes more sense than launching POCO F2 and POCO F3 Pro in a roll.

Last year, the vanilla Redmi K30 became POCO X2, but we already had an original POCO X3. We don’t think that POCO will continue another of its most successful lineups with a mere rebranding now. Anyway, a POCO F3 based on Redmi K40 could make perfect sense as a cost-effective flagship. The handset ships with Snapdragon 870 and can be priced around INR 25,000 in the country ($340). We expect more news in this regard to appear soon.