(Update: Statement from Xiaomi DACH region) These are extremely shabby business practices that Xiaomi is showing here. In the global launch event for the Poco F2 Pro, Xiaomi spoke of 499 euros for the flagship killer with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage, now it suddenly costs 599 euros at the start of . Even worse: Apparently Xiaomi compared its own net prices with the gross prices of the competition.
I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I visited the German product page of the Poco F2 Pro today: At the start of availability in Germany, there was suddenly a price of 599.90 euros for the so-called “flagship killer” – for the variant 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, mind you, not for the more expensive version with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, which is currently not available in Germany.
Anyone who remembers the official launch on May 12 will still remember the price of € 499 that was announced at the time: € 499 or € 599 for the extended model. Even if slightly different prices based on local tax rates have to be assumed within Europe, 100 euros more than announced are definitely not explainable. At that time, Xiaomi may simply have called the net price minus 19 or 20 percent – which is unusual in Europe and probably not legally compliant.
Xiaomi apparently compares its own net and gross prices from the competition
We have just taken the excerpts from the still available livestream from Youtube (see below), the relevant digits start at minute 1:07. Even more shabby is the fact that Xiaomi also sets the prices in comparison to the OnePlus 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20 + and has used the most expensive official gross prices in Europe, i.e. 909 euros for the former and 1,009 euros for the latter, in the version with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage. In fact, Xiaomi compares its own net prices without any taxes with the gross prices of Samsung and OnePlus in the most expensive Euroland – a wrongdoing that is really excusable.
Others are cheaper
Unfortunately, it is also not the case that the retailer prices on the market are currently significantly below the official list price of 599 euros. In view of this – with pardon – mess, everyone has to decide whether to add the Poco F2 Pro to the short list. It is no longer a flagship killer at this price, because other Snapdragon 865 flagships are cheaper, such as the Nubia Red Magic 5G. If it doesn’t necessarily have to be a Snapdragon 865, the recently released Realme X3 SuperZoom would also offer itself for the fake poco price of 499 euros.
Update May 28, 2020 Statement by Xiaomi DACH region
We have now received a statement on the topic from the Xiaomi PR team for the DACH region, according to which the decision to also offer the Poco F2 Pro via its own eCommerce platform mi.com only after the global launch on 12 May fell, according to Xiaomi, the prices mentioned at the time were for external sales channels – a note that local prices and availability may vary has been displayed. According to Xiaomi, the price difference from the originally mentioned price should not only be explained by factors such as taxes and duties, but also by undefined aftersales services, from which customers benefit when buying via the official sales channels.
source:https://www.mi.com/de/poco-f2-pro/
