In this age of high-end digital devices and ‘Apple Tax’ it makes a refreshing change to hear a company who are willing to make a bit of a sacrifice to get their next generation phone on the market!
Lei Jun Xiaomi’s CEO spoke yesterday about how his Beijing based phone and software company will actually be making a loss on every Xiaomi M2 phone they sell for the first few months of production!
According to Lei Jun the Xiaomi M2 with its Qualcomm 1.5Ghz quad-core cpu, 2GB RAM, and top of the range 8 mega-pixel rear camera actually costs the company 2350 Yuan ($370) however as he is expecting suppliers prices to drop over the course of the Xiaomi M2’s lifetime will be selling the second generation phone at 1999 Yuan ($313).
Gizchina News of the week
The high manufacturing costs are also due to some of the Xiaomi M2’s advanced voice recognition software which is licensed from China’s iFLYTEK which is supposed to be a much better voice assistant than Apple’s Siri for Chinese language users. Then there is Xiaomi’s new cloud storage platform which has boosted costs along with the development of MIUI 4.1 which is based on Android Jelly Bean.
So while we thought the Xiaomi M2 was an absolute bargain when it launched last week, we now know this amazing phone is actually one of the best buys for 2012!
While all of this is great news for Xiaomi fans and those hoping to by a Xiaomi M2 once it is available in October, this low price and the hope for supplier prices to drop could mean that the M2 will see its price sit at 1999 Yuan up until the launch of the Xiaomi M3 this time next year!
But i wonder who in online sales or pre-order would be willing to offer it for that price….
its already on pre-order at Fastcardtech… but the price is 369$. 🙁
You beat me to the FCT price comment @LucifeL. I think this phone will be better than the iphone 5. What do you all think? I can’t wait to get my hands on this, and one of the cheap dual core phones (once I make my decision).
Hopefully I can help you get hold of one at the Chinese RRP (plus shipping) but we’ll have to wait and see when the M2 will be available. The M1s it going to have the same lottery launch as the original M1….
@ThinkOutsideTheBox: It is quad core I believe, unless you were referring to M1s. I agree about the phone can be better than iPhone 5, but obviously some of the features (e.g: iFLYTEK voice assistant) do no good unless you are in China or understand Chinese language which is none of the case for me. Such a (extremely) minor drawback for me considering how good Google Now is. If the phone popular (which most probably it will), and has the bootloader unlocked, everything is still possible.
There is an English version of iFlytek on the Android app store (giving it a go now )
Wow, Andi, I am willing to be on the queue if that is the case 😀
Awesome! I’m working on the details and will let everyone know what the plan is soon:)
Andi I wish you good luck and keep my fingers crossed so you can make for us all a perfect offer at least for the first top 6 china phones you listed in your blog.
Hi,Andi can you tell xiaomi that we need xiaomi m2 in India in English as we dont understand chinese language. What they can do for us?
hello, Andi. i’m from Malaysia, please let me know if you’re to buy M2, I’m still looking around on how to buy the phone, since it’s very hard to source for Xiaomi M2, plus the fact there’s alot of fake Xiaomi phone.
Andi, you always talk about getting these phones at remarkable prices, but where are we supposed to buy them if we don’t live in China?
As far as I can tell, android-sale.com is a scam, but please correct me if I’m wrong. Is there ANY reliable retailer for these amazing new Chinese phones?
Hi Baz, I’m planning to start a service where I can buy phones for those of you outside China so you can get the lower Chinese prices. It won’t be a free service but you will save a hell of a lot when compared to the various stores.
Re android-sale. Why do you say they are a scam? Have you had a bad experience with them. Please tell us all what the problem was so that no one else is affected! Thanks
Hey Andi, I’m glad to hear you will be seizing the opportunity to provide such a service to all the poor souls who don’t have direct access to Chinese markets.
Re: android-sale, I don’t have any personal experience buying from them, but I’ve read a lot of complaints from customers who assert the site is nothing more than a scam. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle, but I’m very skeptical about buying products from a website that hasn’t built credibility with its buyers.
I would expect to see more of an international market for such phones in the coming years and it’s only a matter of time before they dominate the global smartphone market.
Hi Baz.
Thanks for the Android-sale update. I’ve not had a problem with them on the actual delivery of product front, but I do question some of their marketing methods….
Some readers suggested I add a forum to Gizchina, I think I’m going to do it the first category I’m adding though is one all about online Chinese stores so we can all list are faves and experiences with stores we have dealt with in the past. Hopefully this will prevent anyone else being scammed in the future!
Andi, my heartiest greetings to you. All your followers would be ever grateful to you. A few more dollars to you we wont mind and we will send you the money by bank. We trust you because we can contact you.I agree with Baz that it is very difficult to contact those sites. We will send the money in advance through Bank. Thanks a lot. INDIA
Hello, Andi.
I also wouldn’t mind if you’re charging for your service as long as the price is alright to me.
That’s great! I’ll keep working on it and let you all know when I start the service. Thanks 🙂
That’s a great idea Andi. I look forward!
Hi guy’s Gizchina forums are up and running in BETA. Please sign up here https://www.gizchina.com/2012/08/27/gizchina-forums-join-the-conversation/ and take part in the forums here https://www.gizchina.com/forums/ Cheers 🙂
Hello Andi!
You ‘ve done a great job.
The forum is great idea and the selling service is the Greatest…!
thank you… keep going on!
hi andi,
do u know if the pre order for xiaomi m2 on fastcardtech is real or not?
wat about ibuygou?
Hi,
in two days is relaunch, this say Xiaomi.
26.10.2012 10 Hour !!!
Hurraaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!