Xiaomi's plans to gatecrash Apple, OnePlus' premium party - The Ken
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Register or LoginOn Wednesday, Chinese electronics major Xiaomi put “India’s fastest charging smartphone” up for sale. The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge supposedly charges to 100% within 15 minutes and retails from Rs 26,999 (US$365). Next week, Xiaomi will launch the 11T Pro, which it calls “The Hyperphone”. It has a 10-bit AMOLEDAMOLEDAMOLEDAMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes) is a type of OLED display device technology. AMOLED display quality is much better than the OLEDs as it contains an additional layer of TFTs and follows backplane technologies. display, among other features, and is expected to be priced around Rs 50,000 (US$675).
These are just two of at least six premium phones Xiaomi plans to launch this year, The Ken has learnt. This points to a major change in the 12-year-old company’s strategy. It’s finally trying to join the big-boy league.
Xiaomi has never quite been associated with premium smartphones. Ever since it entered India in 2014, it sought to woo the country’s value-conscious consumers by positioning itself as an “affordable brand with great specifications”. It worked like a charm—with an online-only retail approach, which further reduced costs, Xiaomi becamebecameThe KenXiaomi’s bittersweet path to ending Samsung’s 5-year India reignRead more the largest smartphone brand in the country in just three years.
And it has maintained that lead to date. In the quarter ended September 2021, Xiaomi had a 22% market share in India, according to market research company Counterpoint Research. Second-placed Samsung was not too far behind at 19%. In the process, Xiaomi has shipped 11.2 million units, making India its biggest smartphone market.
However, Xiaomi has been forced to ditch the budget focus amidst an increasing affinity towards more advanced smartphones and criticism around the previous versions of its Android-based operating system. The latest MIUI 12.5 followed in April 2021, which Xiaomi says is its cleanest OS till date, with no advertisements or bloatwarebloatwareBloatwareBloatware is commercial software that is preinstalled on a device by the manufacturer, whether it's useful or not, and tends to waste memory and resources. While some of these apps may be useful, the majority of them simply sit there taking up storage space and, in some cases, affecting the performance of your phone.. But this came with a cost.
Xiaomi relies heavily on ad revenue from its internet servicesinternet servicesThe KenXiaomi wants India addicted to its internet services.
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