Poco F2 Pro: Xiaomi may have been misleading customers with its "flagship killer pricing"

[Redaktion]

Xiaomi fans may have had a rude awakening when purchasing the Poco F2 Pro on Mi.com. Proudly announced for the "flagship killer price" of €499, it turns out that Xiaomi never intended to sell the Poco F2 Pro for that price at all.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Poco-F2-Pro-Xiaomi-may-have-been-misleading-customers-with-its-flagship-killer-pricing.467684.0.html

[TruthIsThere]

Are we supposed to be shocked by Xiaomi's deceit/trickery?

Xiaomi is a Chinese company. Enough said.

[N K B Enterprises]

Have they made the phone available at €499 in one way or the other? If someone thinks a listed price is too high, can they look for a better deal and get it at the announced price?
If so, this is a non issue and does not deserve an article at all. Even the tone it's written in is all wrong.

To offer different pricing in different countries, it's down to duties, taxes and distribution structure of that specific country. Not the fault of a manufacturer if no dealer is willing to accept their phones unless they price it higher in direct sales channels.

[LoLyeah]

Have they made the phone available at €499 in one way or the other? If someone thinks a listed price is too high, can they look for a better deal and get it at the announced price?
If so, this is a non issue and does not deserve an article at all. Even the tone it's written in is all wrong.

To offer different pricing in different countries, it's down to duties, taxes and distribution structure of that specific country. Not the fault of a manufacturer if no dealer is willing to accept their phones unless they price it higher in direct sales channels.

Yeah, on Gearbest it's only cost $499 if you buy it from France warehouse, and $529 from HK warehouse. I don't understand the point of this article really.

[Dannyb]

Regardless, I'm done with Xiaomi . For the first time in 7 years I'm looking for an alternative

[Emanuel]

I'm not surprised at all. They promise one price but then don't deliver on it. My experience with the company has been so awful I'm never coming back to it, I'm happy they are screwing up.

[living in austria]

this aint surprising welcome to VAT and how much it cost for foreign businesses. have u seen a tesla 3's cost? 35k in ur dreams

[Smpt]

this aint surprising welcome to VAT and how much it cost for foreign businesses. have u seen a tesla 3's cost? 35k in ur dreams

VAT?! What is the VAT in your country?
The phone sells in China (6/128 version) for 2699CNY/~379USD.
379USD=338Euro...From 338Euro to 600Euro there's a 77.5% price increase for the EU customer.
You're still getting a 338Euro phone at the end of the day.

[Raymon92]

I'm not surprised at all. I own the phone, it's a good phone but I saw from the presentation that were hiding things, they think we're stupid. And I still don't understand why third party sellers on eBay for it first and not their official channel. The AliExpress link on their own website was a scam. They said they're gonna ship it in 2 working days but even after 2 weeks nothing happened and when I wanted to cancel the order the seller kept rejected it. I had to complain several times to AliExpress so I can get my money back. I ended up buying it from a Spanish website at 550€.

[JimZe]

Seems a bit dodgy of Xiaomi.
Anyway, I ordered this phone a few days ago on ebay from a Chinese seller/EU warehouse. Roughly €450 for the Cyber Grey 6GB/128GB version. Should be here in a few days according to the dispatch email. Hoping its a good phone!

[G]

A phone is not selling at MSRP in EU. Wow what a surprise. The iPhone is supposed to be $1000, yet in my country it is selling for at least 1200. The one plus 8 plus was supposed to be 900... Yet it is selling for 1300... Why is none complaining? MSRP is manufacturer suggested retail price. Suggested!

[DougJudy]

VAT?! What is the VAT in your country?
The phone sells in China (6/128 version) for 2699CNY/~379USD.
379USD=338Euro...From 338Euro to 600Euro there's a 77.5% price increase for the EU customer.
You're still getting a 338Euro phone at the end of the day.

Not how imports work, there's a bunch of different taxes and tarifs besides VAT, be it Xiaomi or any other brand. And this is still cheaper than comparable phones so I don't get the point of the article.

A more interesting discussion would be how this phone along with most of the stuff on the market from companies like xiaomi, oppo, zte, etc. are bad deals because the software support is awful with the exception of OnePlus

[Kuro yami]

Well I don't know about European countries but the phone come in Iraq at the starting price of 469 USD so I would say that you people probably pay too much taxes or the companies responsible to import the phone did rise the price.

[Surilo]

"We should stress that the F2 Pro remains good value for money even at €699."

No, it really isn't. At that price point, it gets outclassed by a considerable number of phones, even some by Xiaomi themselves.
One good example is the Xiaomi Mi 10, (680 USD on AliExpress), which has dual speakers, better cameras, a better screen (90 Hz),  and comes with 8gb ram and 128gb storage.
There's also the OnePlus 8, which is just overall a better phone and costs 699 USD on their site.
A third example would be the Realme X50 Pro, which also has a 90Hz screen, 8gb ram, and 128gb storage and costs something like 530 USD (not entirely sure about this one, but it's less than 550 USD on AliExpress). Also Realme UI is leagues better than MIUI. I really don't understand how people are fine with MIUI's horrendous performance sometimes, especially on their "Redmi Note" series.
I really can't see your point that €699 is a "good value" for a Poco F2 pro. Not saying it's a bad phone, but at the price point Xiaomi "promised" they'd sell it, a phone with top tier specs and mediocre software would actually be a pretty decent value and is the reason these phones sell so much.

[Mike Lund]

Everyone slamming Xiaomi for common business practices, ok... Anyways if you want a true flagship killer great phone I would suggest the Realme X2 Pro 8GB 128GB varient, just check out the specs and with a gorilla glass 5 metal frame sandwich it's an awesome phone, let's not forget it's got a headphone jack, yay! 90 hz refresh rate, quad camera with a 64 mp main shooter, dual Dolby Atmos speakers, and a 50 watt super Vooc charger that yes comes in the box! Wich they say can charge your phone from 0 to 100% in just 35 minutes, and they weren't lying, it's some super fast charging! Plus much more to get excited about. I have this device and a One Plus 7 Pro and they're quite comparable. I switch phones every week and it's just a great phone. The Realme X2 Pro even somewhat distanced itself with it's new OS Realme One instead of going from color 06 to color 07. Wich I like. When I bought the phone around $460 USD for the 8GB 128GB varient some sites cheaper and some more expensive of course, it also has a 6GB 64GB varient at it's cheapest price point and a 12GB 256GB at it's most expensive at around $600 USD Wich still isn't too bad for what you're getting. No need to worry about software updates either. When I purchased it, it had Android 9 and was promised an update to Android 10 within a few months of buying, to my delighted surprise they came through and it's now running Android 10. They have promised at least two major updates at the least just like One Plus does so no need to worry about updates for awhile Wich extends the life of your phone and in turn saves you money for not having to upgrade to get the latest OS. Technically you should be good for at least three to four years. So if your looking for a great phone with great support I suggest the Realme X2 Pro. Check it out for yourself I doubt you'll  be disappointed. Realme is a subsidiary of Oppo, moving away from Oppo to be it's own company wich is cool. No I'm not sponsored by or affiliated with Realme lol it's honestly just a great phone, hopefully someone finds this info helpful if you're looking to upgrade or just try out a new company.