POCO M8 Power Launch in India Tipped; Could Be a Rebranded Redmi Note 17 5G

China just got its Redmi Note 17 series, with Xiaomi launching the Redmi Note 17 and Redmi Note 17 Pro yesterday. But if a new leak holds up, Indian buyers might not see the same phone land here under the Redmi name. Instead, it looks like the Redmi Note 17 5G could show up in India rebranded as the POCO M8 Power.

Where This Leak Is Coming From

Tipster Kacper Skrzypek dug up a POCO device with model number '26021PC18I' buried inside a recent HyperOS firmware build, and the code names it the POCO M8 Power. Its internal codenames read 'mist' and 'mist_p_in'.

That model number is the giveaway here. It's nearly identical to '26021RN18C', the tag already tied to the Chinese Redmi Note 17 5G, which is a strong hint that the two phones are essentially the same device wearing different badges.

India Might Still Get Different Specs

Here's where it gets a bit more layered. Xiaomi has a history of tweaking specs between its global and Indian Redmi Note models, and the tipster thinks it's happening again. The Redmi Note 15 5G went through something similar last time, where the global version had its own configuration while India ended up with hardware closer to what China got.

Battery capacity seems to be where this split shows up for the Note 17 series too. Global units of the Redmi Note 17 and Redmi Note 17 Pro are rumoured to pack 7,700mAh and 8,340mAh cells, while Indian units may hang on to the larger 8,000mAh and 9,000mAh batteries seen on the Chinese models.

There's also a paper trail backing this up. The '26021PC18I' number linked to the POCO M8 Power 5G has already turned up on India's BIS certification listings, right next to the Redmi 17 5G. That usually means both phones are getting closer to an actual India launch, not just floating around as rumours.

Nothing's confirmed yet, so it's worth waiting for Xiaomi or POCO to make it official.

Via