- China-based Xiaomi Technology is aiming to make Mi a premium smartphone brand
- The premium smartphone category, witnessed 66 per cent growth YoY, during last December
China-based Xiaomi Technology is gearing up to launch premium smartphones under the Mi brand in India in 2020. The company might also bring its concept phone Mi Max Alpha here under the same brand. A recent report published by the Economic Times (ET) also stated that once launched, this Mi Max Alpha smartphone, may cost as much as Rs 2.5 lakh.
ET quoted Reghu Reddy saying that Xiaomi Technology has set clear portfolios for Redmi and Mi brands back in China. Xiaomi India will be working on implementing the same portfolio for these brands in India in 2020. It is also to be noted here that Xiaomi has not yet launched the second variant of Poco smartphones. Poco was believed to be Xiaomi’s take on the premium smartphones segment.
The K20 and K20 Pro launches
Xiaomi India, under the Redmi brand, had launched two premium smartphones in the country last year. Dubbed K20 and K20 Pro, these smartphones were priced upwards of Rs 21,000. Now the company is retailing K20 smartphones at starting prices of Rs 19,999.
The company was able to generate Rs 12,365.81 crore more in revenue during financial year 2019 (FY 2019), in comparison to financial year 2018 (FY 2018). The China-based company, in its RoC (Registrar of Companies) filing, had filed revenues worth Rs 35,426.92 crore for FY 2019.
Xiaomi trails BBK and Samsung
Xiaomi, at the moment, trails China-based BBK and Samsung in terms of being the largest smartphone maker in India. As a matter of fact China-based BBK owns and operates four smartphone brand here. These include Oppo, Vivo, Oneplus, and Realme. The Oneplus brand, is BBK’s take on the premium smartphone segment.
As far as Mi is concerned, Xiaomi might now be looking to take on the flagship standards set by other smartphone brands in the world. Innovation in affordable prices, has always been Xiaomi’s USP in China and India. Many other smartphone brands might keep their eyes open to check whether Xiaomi follows the same for Mi brand or not!
