When Xiaomi first rolled out its IPO last year, there were speculations the company will have to increase the prices of its phone in other to make the company more profitable. The company was quick to debunk such speculations and assured fans that it would not increase the profit margin of its phones above 5%. There have been doubts as to how the company will keep its phone prices low and still make some profit for its investors. Those doubts are turning out not to be unfounded but we are not surprised because it was expected.
Tech Node reports that Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun has warned that Xiaomi phones could get more expensive in future releases. This is as a result of attempts by the Chinese company to sed off the reputation for producing cheap hardware. Lei is quoted to have stated; “Actually, we want to get rid of this reputation that our phones cost less than 2,000 Yuan. We want to invest more and make better products.” H went further to disclose that he had informed the staff internally that this might be the last time the company’s phone prices will be under 3,000 Yuan, apparently referring to the flagship Mi brand. “In the future, our phones might get more expensive—not a lot, but a little more expensive,” he added.
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Xiaomi has subtly been hinting at a change in its pricing pattern for a while now. Earlier in January after the Redmi Note 7 launch, Xiaomi had promoted the base model of last year’s flagship Mi 8 for 2099 yuan ($310). Xiaomi’s product director, Wang Teng Thomas had hinted back then 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. For now, the innovative phone maker seems to be taking things slowly in that regard. The Mi 9 which was launched on February 20 came with several innovations such as three rear cameras, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip, and wireless charging but the pricing was barely higher than its predecessor. The Mi 9 starts at 2,999 yuan (around $446), while the Transparent Edition sells for 3,999 yuan. The Mi 9 SE which is a trimmed down variant starts at 1,999 yuan. The Mi 9 price is just 300 yuan ($44) higher than the Mi 8 which starts at 2,699 yuan ($355).
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