POCO UI based on MIUI is coming later in 2021
POCO has been developing as a pretty strong brand of affordable smartphones, but they are definitely trying to differentiate themselves from Xiaomi. While POCO devices currently run a lightly customized version of MIUI dubbed MIUI for POCO, they are apparently planning to unveil POCO UI later this year.
Global Head of Marketing at POCO, Angus Ng, admitted in an interview with Android Central that software isn’t POCO’s strength, but they are focusing to improve in that aspect. They are in the process of collecting feedback from POCO users to see what POCO users want.
There will apparently be some special features to make MIUI for POCO even better, and “exclusive features” for POCO UI are also in the pipeline. It will however still be based on MIUI’s codebase.
While POCO is is out to carve their own identity, they aren’t shy to admit that they rely on Xiaomi for resources, like R&D, manufacturing and after-sales. Certain products like the POCO F2 Pro and POCO F3, are also direct rebadge of devices from other brands under Xiaomi’s umbrella.
If POCO manages to develop POCO UI to be a success, it will be quite interesting to see if third-party developers will attempt to port POCO UI for the other Xiaomi devices in the market. Considering that they will share the same codebase, Xiaomi might even borrow a few features from POCO UI.
Xiaomi has already copied the app drawer feature that debuted on the POCO F1 for MIUI 12, so we can expect to see more of the same. We definitely look forward to seeing more from POCO in coming months!
Pokdepinion: With the bang-for-buck hardware offered by POCO, improving software is definitely the way forward for the brand.
