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According to its official social channels, POCO will announce its latest flagship smartphone, most likely the POCO X3 Pro, in India March 30. In a statement, the company’s Indian arm earlier suggested it won’t release its upcoming high-end phone under the F series, revealing instead that its next release will “not be an F by name but by game!”

(Update, March 22: The POCO X3 Pro is now official! And as expected, it offers a great price for its specs. Check it out here.)

(Update, March 22: Unbelievable price for the specs! Meet the POCO F3 with Snapdragon 870 5G chip here.)

(Update, March 21: Is the POCO F3 with Snapdragon 870 launching alongside the POCO X3 Pro? Take a look at this!)

(Update, March 20: The POCO X3 Pro’s design, specs, and price have leaked out ahead of the phone’s March 22 global launch! Details here.)

That phone, if rumors are accurate, is the POCO X3 Pro, also somewhat a successor to the wildly popular POCO F1 or Pocophone F1, which offered crazy value in the Philippines with a P17,990 (around $371) suggested retail price for 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage. The follow-up to the Snapdragon 845-based F1 was the F2 Pro. But it wasn’t as warmly received among POCO fans in the country, in large part because of its higher starting price of P26,990 ($557) at launch.

Time to break the price-performance(P:P) benchmark. Brace yourselves as we get ready to unleash MAD #PROformance on 30.03

Remember: Only a POCO can beat a #POCO.

Guesses? pic.twitter.com/Nu5Zy9A0JG

— POCO – Madder By the Minute (@IndiaPOCO) March 15, 2021

POCO India’s March 30 launch announcement

The POCO X3 (and X3 NFC) launched last year ran on a midrange Snapdragon 732G chipset and featured a 6.67-inch LCD with a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. The base model arrived with an SRP of P10,990 ($227).

Incidentally, POCO’s global Twitter page has just revealed a launch event scheduled for March 22, using #PowerMeetSpeed to tease the announcement. Are the two events related? We shall soon find out. If you ask, though, we think the event will just headline a new mascot, a feline rival of Realme‘s Realmeow, nothing more.

Watch out! The new beast is in town!#KingPOCO is coming.#PowerMeetSpeed pic.twitter.com/FNtOaLwpAl

— POCO (@POCOGlobal) March 15, 2021

POCO Global’s March 22 launch announcement. Is it for a new phone or for a mascot?

The POCO X3 Pro will attempt to redeem the brand’s value-focused image and could be something of a return to form if the local pricing is right. Unfortunately, we don’t know how much the phone will cost, but its key specifications have been leaked before. It had already cleared a number of regulatory sites, including the IMDA, ECC, BIS, FCC, SIRIM, and TÜV.

SEE ALSO: POCO X3 NFC long-term review: Almost too easy to recommend

According to leaks, POCO’s upcoming flagship will use a never-before-seen Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC, an upgraded variant of the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 855 Plus — possibly similar to how the Snapdragon 870 is identical to the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865 Plus, except with higher clock speeds.

Other rumored specs include a 120Hz AMOLED display; a 48-megapixel quad-camera setup; dedicated ultra-wide, depth, and macro lenses; up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage; and a 5,160mAh battery backup.

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