Xiaomi‘s Mi brand has always been the high-end smartphone brand while the Redmi series is devoted to affordable models. But in recent times we have seen the flagship Mi phones like the Mi 8 come in at amazing discount prices during promotions. Presently, XIaomi seems to be running the New Year promo which brings down the price of the Mi 8 to 2099 yuan ($310) for the base model. Apparently, such amazing offers from the Mi brand may end soon as hinted by Xiaomi’s product director, Wang Teng Thomas in a recent Weibo post.
The Xiaomi product director was responding to a post by a fan who was extolling the new Redmi Note 7 and Mi 8 as the two most cost-effective Xiaomi phones that are worth buying. In response, Mr Wang hinted that after the cost-focused Redmi series, there won’t be any such crazy cheap deals anymore as the Mi brand will go high end.
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Xiaomi has always insisted that it would not increase the profit margin from its phones above 5% but in the face of going public with the company, there have been doubts as to how the company will keep its phone prices low and still make some profit for its investors. So, the statement by Xthe company’s product director could be viewed from two different perspectives. The first is that he wants people to buy Mi 8 as soon as possible so that all available stock is sold out before the Mi 9 lands. In another light, the company may have finally concluded plans to position the Mi brand as a high-end brand that no longer sells cheap flagships and he’s already portraying that. If the second scenario holds true, we may be looking at higher price tags on the Mi flagship. Already, the Redmi Note 7 has been released as the first independent Redmi branded phone and the price is crazily cheap, starting at 999 yuan ($147).
(source)
