Xiaomi has been associated with cheap affordable products for a very long time in India. Focussing on those products alone, the company managed to secure the top position in the country’s smartphone, smart TV as well as smart wearable markets. But now it is aiming to step into the premium market of India by re-introducing its signature Mi series of smartphones and expanding its smart TV offerings, as per a report by Economic Times.
The Chinese tech company Xiaomi entered the Indian shores by launching its then flagship smartphone, the Mi 3. Since then, the company has only launched a handful of Mi series phones in the country like Mi 4, Mi4i, Mi 5, Mi Mix 2, and Android One-powered Mi A1, Mi A2 and Mi A3 in the last five years. On the other hand, the company has turned the smartphone industry of India upside down with its Redmi lineup of smartphones, which currently starts at ₹4,299 and goes up to ₹27,999.
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However, the company is now looking forward to expanding its smartphone portfolio above its current level and thus enter into the premium segment in India. It will achieve this by bringing back the Mi series of smartphones but will continue to serve the masses with its Redmi smartphones. Additionally, the company even plans to offer more big-screen premium smart TVs under the Mi brand.
At an event hosted by Xiaomi India to showcase its Mi Mix Alpha concept smartphone, Raghu Reddy, the company’s head of online sales and categories told ET, “In China, there are clear portfolios for Redmi and Mi. Mi stands for innovation and premium appeal. It has been missing from our portfolio here and we would want to set that up going into 2020.” He also added, “We will launch a lot more of premium flagship devices under the Mi lineup. Once we have devices, there will be a clear differentiation between Mi and Redmi”.
Going by his comments, we can look forward to the launches of more premium Mi series smartphones in India soon starting with Mi Note 10 / Pro, whose launch has been teased by the company since last month.