These days, we often hear about "price-to-performance" in discussions—does a low price automatically mean poor quality? Are manufacturers forced to use cheap components actually coming up with innovative solutions, or are they just flooding the market with cheap alternatives? In the budget segment, which features matter most: display, processor, or battery life? Or at what point does the line between budget and premium become clear?
Is the POCO category cheap = bad?
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When it comes to Xiaomi's Poco series, we can compare its budget-segment strategies to OnePlus's old "flagship killer" approach. OnePlus initially shook up the market by offering premium hardware at lower prices—just like Poco is trying to do today. But there’s a difference: OnePlus’s early models (like the OnePlus One) actually packed quality hardware, keeping costs down through aggressive marketing and a direct-to-consumer sales model that bypassed retail chains.
Poco, on the other hand, focuses more on cost optimization—similar to how Realme pushes aggressive innovation in the lower segments. For example, the Poco X5 stands out in the sub-10,000 INR segment thanks to its AMOLED display, proving that high-quality screens can be made affordable. However, when it comes to processors, it balances price and performance with the Snapdragon 7xx series—much like how Samsung uses Exynos in its A-series to cut costs.
Ultimately, neither approach follows the "cheap equals bad" equation. What matters is where the savings are made and whether they truly add value for the user.