As the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) relaxes norms for the third COVID-19 lockdown in the country, smartphone companies have started taking orders. Poco is among the first few companies to start sales of its phone, putting its Poco X2 up for grabs on Flipkart. However, this does not mean that you can right away buy a new phone irrespective of your location. The sale goes live in only those areas that are declared safe from the COVID-19 infection.

Poco's GM C Manmohan has taken to Twitter, announcing that it has started taking orders for its Poco X2 via Flipkart. However, the deliveries will be subject to local restrictions and government guidelines. If your PIN code falls under the green or orange zones, you can book the phone via Flipkart. However, deliveries are restricted to only a few pin-codes even in the safe zones.

For example, my area in Jharkhand falls under the green zone and I tried to book a Poco X2 from Flipkart. However, Flipkart notified that the delivery cannot be completed due to the local restrictions and government guidelines. Hence, even if your area falls under a green zone, you won't necessarily be able to buy a new phone initially.

Last Friday, the MHA put up new norms for the third lockdown that allowed commercial activities to resume in safe zones under restrictions. E-commerce sites such as Amazon and Flipkart are allowed to resume sales of non-essential items in areas that fall under the green and orange zones, i.e. areas where the COVID-19 cases are non-existent or present in limited numbers. Smartphones, laptops and appliances fall under the non-essential category.

Do note that e-commerce sites are only allowed to deliver essential items only in the red zones.

As for the phone itself, the Poco X2 saw an increase in prices prior to April 2020 after the government increased GST rates. Hence, the prices have been revised for the Poco X2 for all its variants. The base variant of the Poco X2 starts at Rs 16,999 for the base variant while the top-end model goes all the way up to Rs 20,999.

Despite the increase in prices, the Poco X2 remains unbeatable when it comes to sheer value. The Poco X2 is the only phone in its category to come with a 120Hz refresh rate display, that too a massive 6.67-inch IPS LCD display. You also get a fantastic 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor doing duties for the main camera. The Snapdragon 730G takes care of all the performance needs with ease whereas the 4500mAh battery is good enough to make it through an entire day with ease.