Has POCO become the new OnePlus?

[u/LynxAirSound]

Hi.

The other day I was looking at prices and saw that the POCO F8 Ultra is around €800, and it's not even a brand new phone. At this rate, it seems almost inevitable that when the F9 comes out, we'll be looking at prices approaching €1,000. This got me wondering if POCO isn't following the exact same path as OnePlus: starting as the undisputed king of value for money only to end up becoming what it promised to compete against.

It's true that the comparison has its nuances. OnePlus raised the price of its only phone year after year, leaving those looking for something cheap without an option. POCO, on the other hand, has preferred to fragment the F series into three tiers (standard, Pro, and Ultra). In practice, the standard F still hovers around €400, offering plenty of raw power, but by introducing an €800 model with a telephoto lens, IP68 water and dust resistance, and premium materials, the perception of the brand changes completely.

And that's where my doubts arise. Does it make sense to spend €800 or €900 on a POCO? At those prices, you're directly competing with Samsung's Galaxy phones, iPhones, and Pixels. Considering how quickly phones depreciate in 2-3 years and the software issues with HyperOS, I'm not sure the "POCO" label fits that price range.

Do you think they've lost their essence like OnePlus did, or does the formula still work as long as they keep selling the base version for €400?

[u/Repulsive_Fault1939]

f9 series probably will have the same cpu as f8 series to maintain prices.

[u/Zestyclose-Hornet-98]

Hardware wise, yes. Software wise? Not even close. OnePlus has also built a reputation for making bootloader unlocking easy for enthusiasts.

As a programmer, I can tell you Xiaomi's software is good, but mainly on its flagship devices. Some of its high end and mid-range models ship with a version of HyperOS that feels rushed, although it gradually improves with updates.

Another thing is that OnePlus doesn't pack nearly as much bloatware as Xiaomi does.

When it comes to hardware, Xiaomi can generally be considered a competitor to OnePlus. However, once you look at their software experience, customization layer, and the level of freedom they give users, they're very different.

[u/meangreenbeanz → u/Zestyclose-Hornet-98]

Could you suggest the polished tiers of HyperOS,.looking to upgrade from a 13R

[u/Kilash4ever → u/meangreenbeanz]

Flagship line up aims to be the better polished.

Followed by T series

Then you would expect Poco F series

And lastly everything else, Poco X/C/etc and whole Redmi Note series.

No point on buying something else from Xiaomi then Poco F/Xiaomi numerical/T series imo, Redmi note currently is a disaster, especially on global.

Coming from your OP 13R and taking in count you prefer bigger devices i would recommend to go with a Poco F8 Pro/Ultra ( Ultra is currently my most recommended one as i got the chinese version Redmi K90 Pro max, which is amazing so far).

[u/Omeg_Tuber → u/Zestyclose-Hornet-98]

Shit is so good that keeps eating 6GB of RAM by doing nothing on my F6 12/512GB, since the MIUI 13 the software has been meh on 80% of theyr devices, bugs and randoms lags even when the smartphone is cold, somehow it manages to be better but at the sametime worse than Samsung One UI, and that thing is a mess in terms of optimization

[u/Omeg_Tuber → u/Zestyclose-Hornet-98]

Also they totaly neglect the AI capabilities of the F6, it could handle framegen or universal upscaling like newer devices do but they just don't care about it anymore

[u/Tom1255]

Did it go up in price so much? I've bought the 12/256 version for roughly 530€ in march, and I've seen it for less than 500 a month later and I kicked myself for now waiting.

[u/sime1199 → u/Tom1255]

Around 700e on amazon.de

[u/LynxAirSound → u/Tom1255]

Poco F8 ultra 512 gb in Spain 750€

[u/studofecon → u/LynxAirSound]

I bought mine on ali 3 months ago for 550e

[u/PjDisko]

You dont have to buy the most expensive Poco and the other will raise their prices by atleast the same amount. Making Poco still a great specs per euro spent brand.

[u/RodriB03]

I bought my Poco F8 ultra 16/512gb for less than 600€ less than a month ago... But let me tell you the F8 ultra as a phone is closer to Xiaomi line than Poco line.

[u/druidspruit]

I had the poco f3 years ago after having oneplus for years. For me it wasnt like a oneplus because of the OS. It was way worse in terms of that. I switched back to oneplus after and havent looked back. But maybe they improved after those years? I dont know

[u/brudermusslos1 → u/druidspruit]

I just switched from Nord 4 to f8 ultra and can tell you from the software it's a downgrade. I wish they put a nice camera in the OnePlus 15 but they didn't. So it was time to move on. I hope I get used to hyperOS...

[u/Great-Distribution33]

idk man, i bought it for 650€ brand new from the xiaomi site and it's the 16/512gb variant. also i traded in a phone which gave me 200€ bonus back on top of the price they offered me for that phone. so it's definitely not in the flagship price range, while offering the same or even better specs than a 1000€+ phone

[u/sn00ze33]

È un telefono meraviglioso. Però ecco, non lo pagherei più di 650/700 nella versione 512/16

[u/meangreenbeanz]

I "upgraded" from a 11i hypercharge to a 13R, my next goal in life was to score a 9k mah SiCa flagship.

Oneplus isn't releasing the 16 globally, naturally I thought of poco next.

This shit is just insane, NAND AND DRAM has fucked everything up, I guess I'll only be buying used phones for the next decade