We all know the fierce rivalry between Realme and Xiaomi in the past few months. We have seen both the brand locking horns with each other on social media with their respective CEOs shamming or name-calling its counterpart.
However, the rivalry was taken to another level with the latest launch event of Poco as it went after Realme with all its gun power to bash the latter and undermine its product while marketing itself as a superior brand. Poco GM mentioned the name of Realme 32 times in his presentation. Here’s what all happened during the launch event.
With the start of the presentation, Poco India General Manager Manmohan greeted and thanked everyone for joining the live stream and he also warmheartedly welcomed its competition for watching the live stream.
He then compared the 120Hz Refresh Rate present on the Poco X2 with Realme X2. He demoed that Realme X2 is inferior when it comes with Poco X2 and in day-to-day usage experience is smoother in Poco X2 as compared to jittered display present in the Realme X2.
The company then revealed that the Poco X2 performs better than the Realme X2, though both the smartphones are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor. Manmohan claims that Poco X2 has scored 2,74,334 points, while Realme X2 has scored 2,66,583 points. Furthermore, he said that in the GPU test, Poco X2 outperformed Realme X2 and the former is way better due to high-quality components and better software optimisation.
Poco then revealed that smartphone comes with better core-level software optimisation as compared to Realme X2 and it played a video showing that the Poco X2 opened 35 apps faster than the Realme X2.
The brand then compared the Realme X2 and Poco X2 Fast charging technology. The company claims that the 30W Super VOOC flash charge is slower than the Poco X2’s 27W fast charging solution. Manmohan went on record to say that Poco’s fast charger was better with heat management as compared to Realme X2.
Poco then compared the camera capabilities of Poco X2 and Realme X2. The company first all revealed that Poco X2 comes with Sony IMX 686 sensor, while the Realme X2 features Samsung GW1 sensor. Manmohan said that Realme X2 delivered washed-out colours and overexposed image, but the Poco X2 delivers well in daylight. Interestingly, the brand did not compare the low light conditions. Moving on, it started comparing the macro sensor of the Poco X2 and Realme X2 and it said that the former gives much detailed shot in macro photography.
Interestingly, before revealing the price, Poco compared all the features and specifications of the Poco X2 and Realme X2 to give a fair idea of why the former is far better than the latter. The company highlighted those areas where the Poco X2 was better including 120Hz refresh rate, Sony IMX686 sensor, LiquidCool technology, dual-selfie camera, 6GB RAM and more.
Lastly, the brand revealed the price of the Poco X2 and concluded that it is a way better smartphone as compared to the Realme X2 whether be it in terms of price or features and high-quality component.
So, did Poco just glorifiy Realme X2?
The answer is, sadly, Yes. We have seen a lot of launches and live streams in the past few years and whenever, a brand tries to position its new product, it generally compares it with the hottest selling smartphone in that particular segment.
In the past, we have seen Xiaomi comparing its Redmi series of smartphones with the likes of Samsung as it wants to show that hey, we are giving you better features. This type of marketing strategy is a two-way sword. First of all, it means that the brand has accepted that its competitor’s smartphone is popular in this price segment and the only way to sell its new smartphone is by showing how inferior other brand’s product is.
So, this clearly indicates that Xiaomi has accepted that Realme X2 has done a good job in this price segment and it is currently a tough smartphone to beat. That’s why Poco glorified Realme’s latest Realme X2 in this launch event.
A brand who calls Realme a ‘copy-cat’ brand is copying its strategy?
Xiaomi is one of the top brands in the Indian smartphone market andPoco X2 seems to a good device with amazing pricing. That said, the company’s top position is challenged by a new-age brand that entered the Indian smartphone market just one year back. Realme has always got Xiaomi on its toes by launching smartphones that gave a close competition to Xiaomi’s budget champions.
We saw the bitter war of words between both the brands as Xiaomi started terming Realme as a copy-cat brand, whose job was to copy each and every feature present on Xiaomi’s smartphones. However, the brand just copied Realme with Poco brand. Xiaomi announced that Poco will be an independent brand and the company will not interfere in Poco. However, things are not always the way it looks.
For example, Poco’s latest smartphone is just a rebranded version of the Xiaomi Redmi K30, which was launched in China last year. There is not even a single change in terms of features, design or specifications when you compare the Poco X2 and Redmi K30. This means Poco, who calls Realme as a copy-cat brand, has bluntly copy and pasted the Redmi K30 as Poco X2. Interestingly, if you look closely both the smartphones, the Realme X2 and Poco X2 have a similar set of specifications. Realme was the first to bring Realme X2 to India, followed by Poco X2. So, does this mean Poco is copying Realme?