Xiaomi Poco F1 may be able to stream HD content from Netflix and Amazon Prime soon

The Xiaomi Poco F1 may be a high-end flagship phone with high-end flagship specs that costs 2X, nay 3X less than other high-end flagship phones, but it surely isn’t perfect. The Poco F1, for instance, cannot stream high-definition (HD) content from popular streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. But rest assured, Poco is working to change that. In fact, it has been working on it for some time now, the company said in a forum post on Sunday.  

The Poco F1 notably does not support Widevine L1 which is necessary to stream HD content on a mobile device. Widevine is a DRM standard which is adopted by popular streaming services to prevent pirates from illegally copying their stream. Widevine has three versions, L1, L2 and L3. In order to stream 720p resolution (and higher) videos, a mobile device must be L1-certified. The Poco F1 instead ships with the lowest of the lot, that is L3, and therefore can stream content in SD-quality or 540p at max.  

There has been a lot of confusion if and how Poco can bring Widevine L1 support to the Poco F1 possibly through a software update. This is because there isn’t any prescribed formula how a company can go about adding L1 to devices that don’t ship with it out-of-the-box. Back in the day, OnePlus 5T users faced a similar problem, and had to rush to their nearest service centers to manually get L1 installed on their devices.  

Poco does not clear the confusion either. All it says, for now, is that “unfortunately we were not able to release (Widevine L1 to support HD streaming) it within Q4, even though we tried really hard! Rest assured, we are still working on supporting Widevine L1.” Whether Poco F1 users will need to queue up outside service centers or whether Poco will bring the support via a software update is something only time will tell. Regardless, it is nice to see Poco being so actively involved with the community to (also) talk about the limitations of the Poco F1, in addition to highlighting its strong points including blazing fast performance at rock-bottom prices. It is nice to see that it is working on some sort of fix so Poco F1 users can stream HD content from Netflix and Amazon Prime on their devices soon. 

A couple of more interesting features are also in the pipeline for the Poco F1. The one that really stands out though is support for 4K video recording at 60fps, something that is found on more expensive devices and is rather scarce at the Poco F1’s low price point. 

Also Read: Xiaomi Poco F1 6GB RAM, 128GB Armoured Edition Now Available In India For Rs 23,999