Poco F2 Pro goes without the Poco F1 magic, and more tech news today

Your tech news digest, by way of the DGiT Daily tech newsletter , for Wednesday, May 13.
1. Poco F2 Pro: Going without the Poco F1 magic

The Poco F2 Pro has been announced ! It doesn’t quite capture what made the Poco F1 a super-intriguing device, but it does look like it’s going to tempt some buyers who want features but don’t need everything in a phone:

The fresh and cheap Poco F1 that was more or less heavily focused on speed (at €329) and little else, is now a grown-up Pro phone.
The F2 Pro is now only cheap relatively: it sports a flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 with 5G support, starting at €499 ($540), although the €599 model has key higher-end specs.
Most other mainstream Snapdragon 865 devices have been much more expensive. Xiaomi’s own Mi 10 flagship is €999. The lowest-spec OnePlus 8 starts at €699, the Samsung S20 offers Exynos-chips outside of North America.
The F2 Pro has got a bunch of those little things that smartphone geeks will be after: headphone jack, IR blaster, pop-up camera with quad-camera on the back, a big 4700 mAh battery with 30W fast charging, and a screen without a notch.
What’s the catch? It’s missing wireless charging, it has a 60Hz screen, and IP53 splash resistance means it’s not going to survive a dunking in water. Plus, only the €599 model has the fastest UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM.
It does pose questions from the Apple iPhone SE 2020, which in Europe starts at €479. Ok, it’s still cheaper, but the Poco F2 Pro does offer significant advantages in 5G, camera versatility, expected battery life, customization, screen size, storage, charging speed, in-display fingerprint sensor, and more.
Not all of these features matter to everyone, especially given the Apple/iOS/Mac ecosystem and the fact that the iPhone SE will perform just as well. The iPhone SE makes most sense in the US.
This is a non-North American focused device that matters.

Poco F2 Pro = Redmi K30 Pro:

Poco is a sub-brand from Xiaomi. Redmi is a sub-brand from Xiaomi.
The Poco F2 Pro, the much-awaited sequel, is the Redmi K30 Pro under a different name, and slightly different looks, and a “global” release (that won’t include North America).
The K30 Pro has only been released in China so far, so while it’s been out for more than a month, it hasn’t been widely reviewed or rated, yet.
And, weirdly, Poco made no mention of India: no pricing, no availability. Despite the apparent focus from Poco on India, this phone is for global regions, while the Redmi-branding will reportedly be used in India.
It’s just branding, but it’s also confusing: I spoke with my Indian-based colleagues who confirmed it wasn’t just me: the Xiaomi/Poco/Redmi split between regions, and branding, and the Poco relaunch only to rebrand another phone isn’t easily understood.

Lastly:

Months back I bet that...