New Geekbench listing teases a purported Poco F1 Lite

Xiaomi launched the Poco F1 back in August last year. The F1 pushed the envelope in terms of value for money and the next entry in the series is one of our most anticipated devices this year. We don’t expect to see a Poco F2 until July/ August, though, so it was something of a surprise when a new Poco device surfaced on Geekbench a few days ago.

The device was spotted on Geekbench with the model name “Xiaomi POCO F1 Lite”, which would make it a cheaper alternative to the Poco F1. The device ran on Android 9 and featured 4 GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 660, all of which are specifications you wouldn’t be surprised to find on an actual Poco F1 Lite.

That said, the listing looks sketchy. The Poco F1 already offers an almost premium package at a mid-range price point, and it would be completely brainless for Xiaomi to offer a Lite version. For one, this hypothetical device would only end up cannibalizing sales of the new Redmi Note 7. There’s also the fact that the Snapdragon 845-powered Poco F1 had a US$300 price tag; what would a Lite version cost? US$200? The more impressive Redmi Note 7 Pro is already priced in that bracket. 

A Poco F1 Lite would be a brainless move from a business perspective. It’s more likely the device in question is a Redmi Note 7 with a build.prop edit to change the model name.