Xiaomi, the dominant player in India smartphone industry, has recently launched a new series of smartphones – Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro. While the Redmi Note 8 houses 48MP primary camera, Redmi Note 8 Pro takes the competition to a whole new level. It is the first device in India that offers 64MP primary camera in a quad-lens for less than Rs 15K.
Both the devices house quad-lens camera with a powerful processor and enough of RAM to provide a great experience to all users. Xiaomi is applauded for launching another path-breaking smartphone series that is undoubtedly a head-turner. But the biggest attraction which is poised to redefine the India smartphone industry is the price of Redmi Note 8 series smartphones; especially Redmi Note 8.
It is estimated that total sales of smartphones in India will touch 150 million figure in 2019. In the 1H of 2019, smartphone companies operating in India have already shipped 69 million devices, and the usual boom in the sals of smartphones during the festive season will help the figure surpassing 150 million by the end of 2019.
According to techArch, a market research firm, smartphones price tagged with Rs 25,000 or less will account for 71% of the total smartphone sales in 2019. The mid-segment smartphones, that are priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000, would account for the lion’s share of the market.
The above data, along with segment forecast, is credible enough to draw the attention of all smartphone players in India, including Xiaomi. The company, that tops the list of smartphone players in India with 28% shipment share, has placed its latest bet with Redmi Note 8 series smartphones to capture lion’s share of the segment that is driving the growth of overall smartphone industry for the last few years.
- Redmi Note 8 Specification
- Redmi Note 8 Pro specification
Triple Came Phone: The End of An Era
Xiaomi is known for introducing powerful smartphones with jaw-dropping prices. In the last five years, the company has flooded the entry-level segment with smartphones having high-end components under the hood at a very competitive price.
Xiaomi had debuted the India market in mid-2014. Samsung and Micromax, two of the market leaders then, were taken by surprise and failed to catch up, eventually losing grounds to the Xiaomi. By offering Xiaomi Mi3 at just Rs 14,999 the company took the then market leader, Samsung and Micromax, by surprise who failed to catch up and eventually lost grounds to Xiaomi. Xiaomi Mi3 housed 13MP camera, a 5-inch 1080p IPS display sourced from Sharp, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. Such specifications were available with smartphones like the Google Nexus 5, the LG G2, and the Sony Xperia Z1, all were priced above Rs 35,000 then.
Xiaomi is once again trying to replicate the proven strategy. By introducing quad-lens camera setup in Redmi Note 8 series smartphones that are price tagged with Rs 9,990 onwards, the company has set a new benchmark for other smartphone OEMs to match. The move will have a direct impact on the smartphones that belong to entry-level, aka sub-10k, segment and offer triple or dual camera setup. This time, however, the company has tried to kill two birds with one stone. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 8 which is price tagged with Rs 9,999 falls under the entry-level segment, while the superior version of the same model, Redmi Note 8 Pro, belongs to mid-segment as the company has priced it with Rs 14,999 onwards. It’s no secret that mobile phone camera is the biggest attraction for customers and the major sales driver. By offering quad-camera lens smartphones to customers that belong to any of these segments, Xiaomi has redefined the equations of the entry and mid-segment market.
As prospective customers start rushing for Redmi Note 8 series smartphones, the impact of it is clearly seen on the competitors, like Realme, Oppo and Vivo. It’s expected that the companies are exploring options either to cut the prices of their existing quad-camera smartphones or launch new smartphones in order to avoid losing grounds to Redmi Note 8 series smartphones.
Whatever the move they may make, one thing is certain; The price war in the entry segment and mid-segment smartphone market is far from over and smartphone companies are leaving no stone unturned to lure customers. As companies are constantly lowering the price of their feature-rich smartphones that are having powerful components under the hood, smartphones are becoming obsolete faster than ever before.
Xiaomi is not the first one to offer quad-camera smartphones in the industry though, but by introducing such smartphones at jaw-dropping prices is making it the first one to bring those smartphones well under the reach of customers that don’t have deep pockets.
With Redmi Note 8 series smartphones are up for sales now, the price-sensitive smartphone buyers find quad lens camera well under their reach. This will have a direct impact on the market of smartphones having triple-lens camera setup, and may soon have a tough time to find any takers.
Xiaomi has recently announced that the company has sold over 100 million Redmi Note devices worldwide so far. To put things perspective, in the last five years, between Q3 2014 to Q2 2019, a total of 589.2 million smartphones were shipped in India. Driven by the unparalleled response received by the Note series in India as well, Xiaomi accounted for nearly 16% of the total smartphone shipments during the aforementioned five year period – undoubtedly a remarkable performance for any smartphone company.
Xiaomi has, once again, proved itself as a true game-changer in India by offering quad lens camera smartphones at such a jaw-dropping price. As the festive season has already begun in India, we can expect to see more surprises from other companies that are in the direct competition with Xiaomi. All will result in falling prices of quad lens camera smartphones, but it would be customers who would be emerging as a real winner.
