As per a report published by GizmoChina, Lin Bin said that Mi focuses more on high end devices while Redmi brand focuses more on value-for-money budget smartphones
The company has already started circulating media invites for an event scheduled for 10 January 2018. It is believed that the launch of this anticipated 48-megapixel smartphone will also mark the entry of Redmi into the smartphone market as a separate brand.
Two other China based smartphone brands have taken the same course in the past. Huawei had launched Honor to focus on budget smartphones, whereas Oppo had launched Realme to focus on the same segment of smartphones. However, it is worth mentioning here that these sub brands, owing to their budget smartphone approach, were able to generate more business for their parent brands.
Xiaomi’s president Lin Bin explains
Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun has explained the reason behind the splitting of Mi and Redmi in two different brands. He gave a response to a Weibo user and said that the primary reason behind separating Mi and Redmi as different brands is the difference in focus.
He explained that Redmi brand focuses more on value-for-money budget smartphones while Mi is more focused towards high-end smartphone devices. Interestingly Lin Bin has said nothing about Poco brand, which Xiaomi had launched to offer affordable premium smartphones in the market.
Xiaomi going to officially announce the same on January 7?
It seems as if the whole Xiaomi team is geared up for announcing Redmi as a separate brand. Tweets made by different Xiaomi handles, including the one of Manu Kumar Jain, appear as if the official announcement of the development is going to take place on 7 January, 2018.
A tweet posted by the official Xiaomi Twitter handle read, “Mi fans! 5 announcements coming your way. Can you guess what they are? High5, PS: Watch this space on Monday, January 7, 2019.” It is to be noted here that Xiaomi India’s Twitter handle has also posted an almost similar tweet today.
Interestingly, 2019 is Xiaomi’s fifth year in the country. Manu Kumar Jain, MD at Xiaomi India and Global VP, Xiaomi tweeted, “Xiaomi India keeps getting stronger! 5th year in India, 5th year of breaking records, 5th consecutive quarter of being number 1 smartphone brand (hopefully 6th very soon). To celebrate, we’re making 5 key announcements, starting Monday 7th January!”