Poco teases partnership with Airtel to launch ‘Most affordable 5G device’ in India

Poco India CEO Himanshu Tandon has hinted at the arrival of a new budget 5G smartphone in the country. Tandon at X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday (March 5) posted that Poco is expanding its partnership with Airtel to launch a new phone. Poco launched an Airtel-exclusive variant of the Poco C51 in July last year. It offers prepaid connection with Airtel and includes exclusive benefits from Airtel. The handset runs on MediaTek Helio G36 SoC and is backed by a 5000mAh battery.

Himanshu Tandon was annoying Poco’s upcoming phone as part of partnership with Airtel. ‘Poco X Airtel’ another partnership! Coming soon!” he posted. It is said to be the most affordable 5G phone ever launched in India. While replying to comments on the posts, he said that the upcoming smartphone will not be an “Airtel version” of an existing device, hinting at a new phone. However, when a user asked Tandon if this will be the Airtel edition of the Poco M6 5G, he answered “true”.

Poco launched the Poco C51 in April last year priced at Rs. 8,499 for the only 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant. The Airtel exclusive version later debuted in July for Rs. 5,999. It comes bundled with Airtel prepaid connection and 50GB one-time free mobile data.

The Poco C51 features a 6.52-inch HD+ (720×1600 pixels) display with a 120Hz touch sampling rate. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio G36 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. The built-in RAM can be virtually expanded up to 7 GB using 3 GB of unused storage space.

It features a dual rear camera setup comprising an 8-megapixel primary sensor and a secondary depth sensor. The Poco C51 includes a 5-megapixel sensor on the front. It has 64GB of inbuilt storage and is backed by a 5000mAh battery.