Redmi 1S
The hype created by the Mi3 paved the way for the much awaited Mi4 in 2014. Along with the Mi4 came the OnePlus One which was in its own league and we compiled an entire post about OnePlus - do check that out :-) Coming back to Xiaomi, the Mi4 boasted flagship specs and was sold for just around Rs. 20K. This led to additional hype and hence made their presence more strong in India. Then came the Note series which turned their game completely. The Redmi Note 3 was a massive hit followed by the Note 4 and now the Note 5 and Note 5 Pro. The price to performance ratio or even the price to offering ratio made the competitors crave for a small share in the market hence Lenovo, Coolpad, etc. tried to follow the footsteps of Xiaomi however didn't succeed much. Lenovo started off pretty well initially however until lately we haven't heard much from them apart from the Lenovo Z5 which is yet to come to India. Coolpad was like it came, conquered for some time and vanished whereas LeEco on the other hand went to the extreme of being aggressive however later succumbed.
In 2018, Asus with the Max Pro M1 and Oppo with the RealMe brand tried to compete with Xiaomi and indeed have succeeded in gaining some confidence of the consumers. Asus, just about a year and a half ago had priced its products in such a way that it led to disaster for them as it was almost equivalent to any tier 1 brand - of course they failed miserably which might have hit them hard and hence the Zenfone Max Pro M1 has been priced very well and even better than Xiaomi's Note 5 Pro. Similarly, Oppo has been into providing mediocre smartphones at a higher price tag but with RealMe 1 they have established an another league by providing a Helio P60 SOC for Rs. 9k only - No words to describe the impact of competition. Well! this is the present market scenario all thanks to the 'Smartphone Revolution' by Xiaomi in 2013.
According to Canalys in Q1 of 2018, Xiaomi had a market share of about 31% in India which is higher than that of Samsung. For reference in Q4 2014, Xiaomi had a market share of just around 4%. Micromax and the other counterparts like Karbonn are almost dead and Oppo and Vivo thrive via advertisements - thanks to digital revolution (Jio) and online only strategy. HTC and LG have also started struggling due to the impact of OnePlus and Honor on the other hand.
Inspite of such phenomenal stats, Xiaomi's flagship department hasn't really kicked itself off after the Mi4. The Mi5 was a major flop which made them forbid the release of the Mi6. The Mi Mix series was unique however the MiUi and mediocre camera for an almost premium price were not appealing to many especially considering Honor and OnePlus dominated this area. Hence, after the Mi5 flop, Xiaomi focussed on only Budget oriented devices consisting of the Redmi Note and the regular Redmi lineup. This continued for about 2 years till they realized that there is a good share of market centered towards Selfies which Oppo and Vivo always focussed on. It was here when Xiaomi announced the Y series focussed on selfies. This led to a situation where Xiaomi's own devices started competiting with each other and finally under Rs. 15k we are in a position where at every Rs. 1000 increase from Rs. 5000, we can find a different Xiaomi device with almost the same specs and form factor. In 2018 as of June we have : (considering multiple storage and RAM options)
Redmi 5A Rs. 5999/6999
Redmi 5 Rs. 7999/8999
Redmi Y2 Rs. 9999/12999
Redmi Note 5 Rs. 9999/Rs. 11999
Redmi Note 5 Pro Rs. 14999
Redmi 5 Rs. 7999/8999
Redmi Y2 Rs. 9999/12999
Redmi Note 5 Rs. 9999/Rs. 11999
Redmi Note 5 Pro Rs. 14999
Well, it should be clear that Xiaomi has resorted to flooding the Indian market with an option after every Rs. 1-2k. They have focussed on one feature i.e either camera or battery and released a new product with a new name. The Y2 is focussed on cameras however has a lesser battery capacity and lower screen resolution on the other hand the Redmi Note 5 is focussed on battery life and has a higher screen resolution. Ultimately, it can be seen that one device is not capable of ticking every parameter which is obvious however the Note 5 Pro is the most superior of all and we can say it is a combination of every other Redmi. Now, this indicates, that either Xiaomi is facing the heat of the opposition which they have been void off until the start of 2018 or else they want to provide an array of options to users. Well! Only Xiaomi can answer this. Since last year Honor's budget devices have been an ardent competitors and this year too Honor resorted to flooding by introducing the Honor 7X, 9i, 9 lite and recently the 7A and 7C. Well, here we can conclude that, if the opposition is posing a threat then flooding the market to have a stronger share is one option. Prior to Xiaomi and Honor, Samsung also did the same and recently they have been doing so with the J series which always has been in their favour thereby maintaining the share.
Ultimately, its only because of brands like Xiaomi, we are witnessing such a competition in the budget segment. In India, the 8-15k range has the highest share which was seen as an opportunity by them. Hence, in this range too we see powerful and highly capable phones which take on Tier 1 mid-range devices. (E.g the SOC used on the Redmi 5 is the same as in the Samsung A6+ which retails for Rs. 26k) although one major difference which will be evident always is the camera since we cannot expect Pixel like camera performance in the budget segment. However, with devices like Xiaomi Note 5 Pro and RealMe1, the gap has reduced and hence we get an almost ideal device even in the budget range.
We would like to know your thoughts about Xiaomi as a brand and if you own a Xiaomi product, how has been your experience ?. We are well aware of their after sales and service which is one area where they need to improve however we cannot complain much since the situation is the same almost everywhere. This post is just an analysis of what Xiaomi has been into right from its inception in India. They have a very diverse lineup in terms of the products apart from smartphones which includes Tablets, Laptops, Robotic Vacuum cleaner, powerbanks, earphones, etc. however we decided to focus on what made them the most preferred budget brand in India i.e Smartphones.
Image via Xiaomi ; Logo via Wikimedia Commons