In India, Xiaomi takes aim at Samsung with fancier phones

Mi Mix 2. Photo credit: Xiaomi.

On average, people in India spend US$157 on a new smartphone. That figure is rising quickly – it’s already up US$30 in the past year.

That might be a problem for Xiaomi, purveyor of bargain smartphones like its US$105 Redmi 4.

But the Chinese gadget maker is thinking ahead – and for the first time it’s bringing its fanciest and priciest phone to the Indian market.

Its virtually bezel-less Mi Mix 2 is arriving in India on October 10, starting at around US$500, the company announced today.

Samsung engineer Hyesoon Jeong with the Galaxy Note 8. Photo credit: Samsung.

The aim is to give Indian shoppers more options – and ultimately to topple Samsung’s statue, replacing it as India’s favorite smartphone brand.

Xiaomi is already on the right path. It’s now India’s second biggest smartphone maker, and September was its best month ever, with 10 million phones shipped across the nation.

By growing in line with the thickening wallets of India’s shoppers, Xiaomi might be able to avoid its ignominious China collapse, in which it plummeted from first to fifth in terms of sales as consumers opted for more upmarket phones from Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo in 2016.

Xiaomi is already feeling that pressure in India as fellow Chinese brands – particularly Vivo and Oppo – go aggressively after big spenders.