Since Xiaomi launched the POCO F1 and left us in awe with its bonkers price in August 2018, fans have been clamoring for a sequel. Xiaomi launched the POCO F2 Pro last year but hasn’t given us a proper successor yet. It now appears that the company is finally ready to launch a pure F-series budget flagship called the POCO F3, whose detailed renders just got leaked. And it looks identical to the Redmi K40 launched earlier this year.
Rebranded…? Well, POCO is not new to this game!
The leaked POCO F3 renders come courtesy of leakster Ishan Agarwal, who also mentioned that the phone would be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, the same chipset that ticks inside the Redmi K40 as well. So, in a nutshell, the POCO F3 will be a rebadged version of the Redmi K40. But that’s not exactly a new tactic. Last year, the POCO F2 Pro arrived as a rebranded version of the Redmi K30. Xiaomi has followed a similar renaming strategy for phones sold in the international market, many of which are just renamed models already launched in China.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Yes, I’d have loved to see POCO do something original, just like they did with their first phone. However, if POCO F3 does turn out to be Redmi K40 rehash but still manages to offer it at a competitive price that the brand is known for, I’m not complaining. All we want is a great phone at a great price! And to be clear, the Redmi K40 is a terr fic device on its own, and I’d have purchased it in a heartbeat for that sweet asking price.
As for the specs, you get a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 1300 nits of peak brightness, and an imprimpressive60Hz touch response rate. The screen is flat and is protected b a layer of Gorilla Glass 5. Inside, you’ll find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC paired with up to 12 gigs of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. A 4,520mAh battery keeps the lights on and supports an impressive 33W fast charging. A 48MP snapper at the back can capture slow-mo 1080p videos at a peak frame rate of 960FPS. It sits alongside an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 5MP telephoto shooter that doubles as a macro lens. You’ll find a 20MP sensor on the front to ha dle selfies and video calls. Of course, the phone supports 5G and brings Wi-Fi 6 and NFC to the table.
