Senior executives from Xiaomi, realme and POCO bicker on social media

Senior executives of smartphone brands are taking swipes at each other on Twitter. Xiaomi face Manu Kumar Jain and realme's Madhav Sheth are known to engage in skirmishes and this time, a top executive from POCO, Xiaomi’s independent arm has joined the fray. Xiaomi is about to bring back its previously launched sub brand POCO as an independent unit. The relaunch is set for February 4, 2020.

C Manmohan, general manager, Poco India took to Twitter to announce the launch date of POCO, saying, "We're here to redefine the value of X. Get ready to Xperience something that is #SmoothAF."

This didn't go down well with a former executive of OnePlus, a brand that has been using its tag 'Fast AF' for its camera features along with using the 'Always Smooth' tagline signifying a smooth performance. To Manmohan’s tweet, OnePlus' former product manager Szymon Kopeć (now with Spotify), responded,"OnePlus was all about Fast, so that was F1's tagline too. Now OnePlus is about Fast and Smooth, and guess what? Also, OnePlus uses "Fast AF" for its camera tagline for years. But then, 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'."

Kopeć alleged that POCO was copying OnePlus' marketing propositions as it had already copied the 'Fast' tag for its previous model F1 and was again copying the 'Smooth' proposition for its upcoming model X2.

Soon after, Madhav Sheth, chief executive officer, realme, joined the fray, shaming brand Xiaomi while also taking a dig at the brand's position as a market leader. Sheth's tweet reads, "A real innovative brand and market leader won't behave like that. Basic dignity and ethics should be maintained no matter how insecure you are of your competitor's growth. We will focus on making #realme the best in 2020. Rest is their choice, we don't bother."

The worse was yet to come. In response to Sheth's shaming, POCO's Manmohan responded calling realme a 'CopyCat brand'. His tweet reads, "Hilarious! A real #CopyCat brand that copied almost everything is giving lecture. Instead of advice, maybe try to think of some original ideas to stop declining sales. Why should anyone be worried about a brand that declined 50% last quarter? Ab woh "X" factor nahi raha boss!!"

However, earlier this month, Manu Kumar Jain, global vice president and managing director, Xiaomi India, mocked realme calling the brand a 'copy cat' as it announced its decision to offer ads on realme smartphones, a revenue model which Xiaomi has been a pioneer of.

While the dust seems to have settled for now, more flare-ups are expected in the coming days.