Poco, the smartphone brand has made its entry into the wireless earbuds market with the launch of its first true wireless earbuds, named Poco Pods, in India. The earbuds were unveiled with an attractive introductory price of Rs 1,199, a significant discount from the MRP of Rs 2,999. Set to go on sale on July 29, the Poco Pods will be available on Flipkart, the same platform where Poco sells its range of budget-friendly smartphones.
Designed to appeal to budget-focused customers, the Poco Pods will also cater to Poco F4 users, as the smartphone lacks an audio jack, making wireless earbuds a more convenient option. Ahead of the official launch, the earbuds' Flipkart page provided a glimpse of their design, showcasing the familiar black and yellow colour scheme synonymous with the Poco brand. The earbuds sport a design reminiscent of Apple AirPods Pro, with a relatively long stem and silicone earbuds. The charging case follows an egg-shaped design, featuring the Poco branding in yellow on the front.
In terms of features, the Poco Pods support the standard SBC Bluetooth codec, primarily catering to Android smartphone users, though iPhone users can also connect via Bluetooth. The earbuds are touted to offer 30 hours of music playback with the charging case and have a wireless range of 10 meters from the source. While the charging time is set at 1.5 hours, the type of charging port on the case (USB-C or micro USB) has not been specified.
Poco claims that the Poco Pods are sweatproof and boast "deep bass." They come equipped with built-in microphones for making calls, but they lack certain premium features like active noise cancellation and transparency mode, which are increasingly common in earbuds within the Rs 5,000 price range. Nonetheless, the in-ear design of the Poco Pods should provide a certain degree of noise cancellation.
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Interestingly, the idea of Poco's wireless earbuds had been teased as early as 2020, when a Twitter poll by the then Poco India general manager, C Manmohan, allowed fans to vote on the name of the product. Finally, after some delays attributed to testing issues, the Poco Pods are now set to hit the market three years after their initial tease.
Depending on the response to the launch, Poco may explore the possibility of introducing more feature-rich true wireless earbuds in the future. As the official launch approaches, more details about the Poco Pods earbuds and their performance will be unveiled.
