Xiaomi’s Redmi 1S first went on sale in India with a massive 40,000 units. It was expected that this sale would last longer than the Mi 3 sales, that didn’t clock more than 5 seconds after the first one, when the Flipkart servers faced a crash. However, thanks to the very high value for money the Redmi 1S has on offer, even 40,000 units didn’t help the counters clock 5 seconds.
In comparison, the same device was put on sale in Indonesia on the 4th this month, but with 1/8th the inventory. The sale didn’t last too long there as well, and a similar server crash was reported.
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Xiaomi’s shifting its focus back to India, now that the second lot of Redmi 1S phones is ready to be put on sale. Again, the inventory will be 40,000 strong; buyers though will hope that the sale lasts more than the 4.2 seconds it did on 2nd September.
The high demand has allowed scalpers to get hold of these in-demand phones, which are later sold either locally or via marketplaces like eBay for a margin that they don’t usually get otherwise.
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