14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese handset maker Xiaomi seems to be quite popular in India these last couple of weeks, especially since the company introduced its previous flagship smartphone in the country, the Mi3.
After three consecutive sales, Xiaomi Mi3 is still a hard to come by smartphone in India, probably due to the fact that the Chinese company only stocked limited quantities which were sold out in a matter of seconds, at least during the last two sales.
Now Xiaomi has announced it will offer another batch of 20,000 Mi3 units starting August 12, which are likely to disappear from the shelves in a few seconds as well.
Xiaomi Mi3 is available in India for just Rs 13,999 ($230 / €170) outright, but it can only be purchased via Flipkart. In addition, only customers who register their interest on the Mi3 can try their luck in reserving a unit when the smartphone goes on sale.
Xiaomi and Flipkart confirmed that for the last sale no less than 150,000 customers registered on the retailer’s webstore, which is one of the reasons why the smartphone was sold out in 2 seconds.
Anyway, it looks like Xiaomi’s VP Hugo Barra did an interview with Indian blog digit where he claimed that his company was learning from these experiences and promised to make it easier for customers to purchase their products.
He also explained why Xiaomi wasn’t able to bring more Mi3 units in India by importing them directly from China. Apparently, the two versions of the smartphone are not compatible. The Mi3 sold in India comes with a different software and APN settings, among other things.
Barra hopes that Xiaomi will be able to launch its most important smartphones in various countries simultaneously, but that will probably take the company many months to achieve.
In this regard, the company’s official was kind enough to offer a tip on the current flagship smartphone, the Mi4, which is supposed to arrive in India by the end of the year.
According to Hugo Barra, Xiaomi Mi4 might be available for purchase for Indian customers sometime in December. Obviously, the handset will be priced much higher than the Xiaomi Mi3, but that’s to be expected anyway.
Last but not least, Barra mentioned his company would bring the 4G version of Xiaomi Mi4 in India, not the 3G variant. He did not provide any explanations on why they chose not to launch the 3G Xiaomi Mi4 in India at all, but maybe it’s for the better.