All About Interwebz: Redmi K40 likely to launch in India as the Poco F3

The Redmi K40 recently made its global debut in China as the cheapest flagship smartphone with the Snapdragon 870. Now, there’s additional proof that it will come to India, but as a Poco flagship.

As spotted by Mukul Sharma aka Stufflistings, the Redmi K40 (model number M2012K11AG) has been certified by the FCC ahead of its global launch as a Poco smartphone. This implies that the same product (possibly with some changes) will be available outside of China as a high-end Poco flagship. The fourth image in the tweet below also confirms that it will be called the Poco F3.

As I leaked earlier, the Redmi K40 will indeed launch as a POCO device in the global market. It has now received the FCC certification and will be called the POCO F3. Will be a 5G device.Feel free to retweet.#POCO #POCOF3 pic.twitter.com/ZGobilMYFjMarch 2, 2021

In a follow-up tweet, he also shared that the same phone has been IMEI validated in India already. Notably, there’s no mention of 5G support here. We will wait for further details before jumping to conclusions.

In January, Poco India’s Anuj Sharma confirmed that the next Poco F series smartphone will opt for a flagship chipset. He also talked about how expensive components such as the Snapdragon 888 can be, making them difficult to incorporate in affordable flagships. Going with the Snapdragon 870 will help the Poco F3 keep the costs lower without having to compromise on the performance.

Redmi K40 series — (Image credit: Mi.com)

In China, the Redmi K40 starts at CNY 1,999 (~Rs 22,500) for the base variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The other models are priced at CNY CNY 2,199(8GB + 128GB), CNY 2,499 (8GB + 256GB) and CNY 2,699 (12GB + 256GB). We expect the higher configurations to come to India at a price of under Rs 30,000.

For context, the Redmi K40 has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz, 360Hz touch input, HDR10+ with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top. Even with a thickness of just about 7.8 mm and a weight of 196 grams, it houses a large 4,520mAh battery. Other features include 33W fast charging, dual stereo speakers, 48MP triple-cameras, IP rating and more.

In the past, the rebranding has also been accompanied by small spec upgrades for the highly-competitive Indian market. The Poco F3 India launch is yet to be mentioned officially, but it shouldn’t be too long now.