Xiaomi’s spin-off brand POCO is known to offer impressive smartphone hardware at very attractive prices. The company has a wide range of smartphones across different segments and price points. The POCO F and X series cater to the upper mid-range segment, while the POCO M and C lineup focus on the price-sensitive entry-level and budget segments. POCO’s smartphone portfolio largely consists of rebranded Redmi and Xiaomi phones, with the paint job and the slightly different software skin being the only real differentiator. But it appears the company's upcoming smartphone may not be a simple rebranding exercise.

The POCO C40 was recently spotted on FCC with model number C3QP. Since the model number is similar to the Redmi 10C (C3Q), it was initially believed that the POCO C40 would simply be a rebranded version of its Redmi counterpart (it wouldn't be the first time, after all). But things are not as simple as that this time around. According to XDA Senior Member kacskrz (via MIUI Polska), the POCO C40 will not use the same Snapdragon 680 chipset as the Redmi 10C, and neither will it adopt anything from MediaTek. Instead, it will be powered by an entry-level chipset called JR510, found in several phones from a lesser-known brand called Treswave. Further corroboration comes from a GeekBench listing for a device codenamed "frost". The device listing references model number C3QP, which as mentioned above, is associated with the POCO C40.

In addition, kacskrz's finding reveals that the POCO C40 may run a special version of MIUI called MIUI Go. A flag called IS_MIUI_GO_VERSION was recently added to MIUI firmware.

A string of code mentioning MIUI Go reference

This flag appears alongside the existing IS_MIUI_LITE_VERSION flag, which Xiaomi uses to limit/disable features like floating windows and Game Turbo mode on lowered-powered devices with less than 4GB of RAM. It's unclear at this point if MIUI Go is simply a system-level mode to further limit or restrict power-hungry features on lower-end devices, or a special skin based on Android Go.

Details about other hardware of the POCO C4o are unknown at this point. We don't know when POCO plans to officially launch the phone, but kacskrz suggests it will be available in all markets, including Europe.

Source: MIUI Polska

Featured image: Redmi 10C