The highest selling smartphone manufacturer in India has just split from one of its most successful line of smartphones. Xiaomi will be allowing their Redmi range of smartphones to become an independent brand of its own. However, it will still continue being a subsidiary of the Chinese company. There is already a launch date scheduled for the new brand on the 10th of January in China. That launch event will also be exhibiting the company’s first smartphone with a 48-megapixel sensor. Let’s dig deep into the development to find out what’s one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone manufacturer is up to.
Reasons for split
The Redmi range of smartphones, as mentioned earlier, has been one of the most successful mobile line-ups of Xiaomi. The quality of specifications available at budget prices made it extremely attractive, especially in markets like that of India.
However, that is also one of the reasons as to why the split happened in the first place. While the Redmi brand deals with devices in the budget segment, the Mi band is changing its focus toward more high-end devices, according to CEO Lei Jun. He also mentioned the difference in the focus of the two regarding e-commerce. On one hand, the Redmi devices heavily rely on e-commerce outlets for selling and availability. However, the Mi devices are not necessarily e-commerce focused.
A predictable move?
It is difficult to say that this move was predicted earlier, but it is not like there aren’t any other instances of the same out there. The most successful ones of the lot can arguably be the sub-brands like Realme from Oppo. The remarkable success of Realme attracted the eyeballs of the other smartphone manufacturers.
Xiaomi is in the possession of three sub-brands – Mi, Redmi and Poco. By employing a similar strategy like Realme, Xiaomi could easily introduce a segmented brand to penetrate the market more deeply and counter the rising competition.
One of the reasons that the sub-brands are able to be as successful as they are is because of the targeting of their products. These sub-brands cater to specific types of consumers, which is why their consumer base seldom decreases. Be it the budget or the luxury segment of smartphones, there is always a consumer base for all price ranges of a smartphone. When Lei Jun was asked about the reasons behind the Xiaomi-Redmi split, he just referred to one word – focus. And, as has been proven earlier, this is a gamble that has historically paid off.
Xiaomi’s future aspirations
As mentioned earlier, the Mi devices are moving towards the high-end category. Like the release of their first ever 48-megapixel smartphone, they have become more adventurous with regards to their products. Rumours of a three-panel foldable smartphone being developed by them pay testament to the observation. It has already released its Poco range of smartphones to take on the likes of Samsung and Huawei in the premium smartphone segments that they compete in. After winning over the budget segment comfortably, they will be hard to beat when they start fully competing in all price segments. Until then, it’s still a work in progress.
