14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most successful Chinese handset makers, Xiaomi, plans to enter the Indian market next month. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as the company confirmed the information several weeks ago and it has already launched its official website for India.
However, Xiaomi has yet to share details on what smartphones will be launched and when. Info on the pricing options would be nice to have as well, but the company is still mum on any of these things even though it continues to tease its upcoming devices.
Luckily, the folks over at BGR India have exclusive info on Xiaomi’s marketing campaign that’s about to kick off in India. The first thing you’ll want to know is that the Chinese company has signed a partnership with major retailer Flipkart for the launch of its smartphones in India.
Speaking of which, the first two Xiaomi smartphones that will go on sale in India next month are aimed at different segments of the market: Redmi and Mi3.
The former is a mid-range Android smartphone that’s now available in Singapore for around Rs 8,000 ($135 / €95) outright, while the Mi3, Xiaomi’s flagship smartphone costs Rs 15,000 ($250 / €185) in the same country.
While Xiaomi did not confirm that these smartphones would be available in India for the same prices, we expect them to be priced similarly if not cheaper, especially considering the fierce competition on the smartphone market.
The handset is equipped with a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor, which is complemented by 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. The good news is that Redmi also includes microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
On the back, Redmi packs an 8-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and video recording, while in the front, there’s a secondary 1.3-megapixel camera for video calls.
Xiaomi’s Redmi smartphone will ship with a customized version of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system featuring the company’s MIUI V5.
Next in line, the Mi3 is one of the most powerful smartphones launched by Xiaomi and comes packed with a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory.
The bad news is that Xiaomi Mi3 lacks microSD card slot. On the positive side, the smartphone boasts a 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports full HD (1080p) resolution, as well as a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera.
Other highlights of the high-end handset include 3G, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (Near Field Communication) and a high-capacity 3050 mAh battery.