Xiaomi's Mi 4 a compelling buy

NEW DELHI: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has launched the Mi 4 for Rs 19,999, making the feature-packed phone a very compelling purchase compared with some of the high-end smartphones already available.

Xiaomi, which got bumped off the top position by Apple in its home market of China in Q4 of 2014, as per Canalys, has created inroads in the fast-growing Indian handset market with sales crossing 1 million smartphones in the country within six months of launch.

The Mi 4 has a 5-inch screen with 3GB RAM, 16GB of internal memory and is powered by a 3080 mAh battery. It has a rear 13MP and front 8MP camera with a large f/1.8 aperture, which enables the phone to take pictures with good details in low light.

With these features, the device is well-positioned against the iPhone 6, Sony Xperia Z3 and Samsung Galaxy Alpha, all priced above Rs 38,000, analysts said.

“The Mi 4 is the cheapest smartphone to offer the Snapdragon 801 processor, an IPS display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and the only phone under the Rs 20,000 price with 4k video recording support,” said Tarun Pathak, a senior market analyst at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology.

Xiaomi’s manufacturing partners including Hi-P and Foxconn spent $300 million on R&D and equipment to make the Mi4, said Hugo Barra, head of international operations. Barra said the company intends to make devices in India but did not give a time frame.

“We are not a manufacturer ourselves…We are looking to set up manufacturing and we’re talking to various parties. It’s a very important step for us and it makes economic sense,” he said, adding that the effort was in the direction of being known as an Indian company.

Counterpoint’s Pathak said the device will be a real test for Xiaomi and will lay the foundation for the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro, which may be brought to India before Diwali.

The Beijing-based company wants to improve its after-sales service and plans to take its exclusive service centres to 100 across the country from five currently. The service centers will take up most of the company’s focus in 2015, Xiaomi head of India operations Manu Jain said.

Besides expanding headcount and operations through its R&D centre in Bangalore, the company plans to launch its own e-commerce portal.

“The portal is in the initial stages. The logistics, warehousing, delivery and other aspects involved would be done by partners either exclusively or non-exclusively for us,” he added. He added that full-fledged operations at the R&D centre will take at least three to four months.

Jain added that the company will scale up pilot projects of selling refurbished and unboxed phones through half a dozen partners, including Overcart. The company put on sale far fewer numbers of refurbished and unboxed phones compared with its flash sales every week through Flipkart.

Globally, Xiaomi’s revenue more than doubled to $12 billion last year, selling over 61.2 million devices.

The Mi 4 also features an infrared remote control function that can be used on home appliances including TVs, set-top boxes, air-conditioners and DVD players.

Most existing Xiaomi users will get the MIUI 6 operating system update by February or late March, depending upon the device. The new OS will have significant changes, including options to customise notifications on a per app basis, besides keeping important and unimportant notifications separate.

The company will support warranty of the device even when it is rooted, a feature offered by Yu Televentures in its Yureka phone.