In 2018, Xiaomi India saw a rise in its user base and in this year they managed to push Samsung to the second spot in the Indian smartphone segment. This year Xiaomi launched a slew of products ranging from smartphones, Mi Band, power banks to Smart TVs, Air Purifiers, Bluetooth speakers and more. Coming to smartphones, the company introduced 10 new smartphones for the Indian market with an average selling price of Rs 13,500.
| Xiaomi smartphones | ||||||||||
| Redmi Note 5 | Redmi Note 5 Pro | Redmi 5 | Redmi Y2 | Mi A2 | Poco F1 | Redmi 6 Pro | Redmi 6A | Redmi 6 | Redmi Note 6 Pro | |
| Price (Rs) | 9999/ 11999 | 13999/ 16999 | 7999/ 8999 / 10999 | 9999 / 10999 | 16999/ 17999 | 20999/ 23999/ 289999 | 10999/ 12999 | 5999/ 6999 | 7999/ 9499 | 13999/ 15999 |
| Launch Date | 2/14/2018 | 2/14/2018 | 3/14/2018 | 6/7/2018 | 8/8/2018 | 8/22/2018 | 9/5/2018 | 9/5/2018 | 9/5/2018 | 11/22/2018 |
| Display | 5.99 inches | 5.99 inches | 5.7 inches | 5.99 inches | 5.99 inches | 6.1 inches | 5.84 inches | 5.45 inches | 5.45 inches | 6.26 inches |
| Disp. Resolution | 2160 x 1080 pixels | 2160 x 1080 pixels | 1440 x 720 pixels | 1440 x 720 pixels | 2160 x 1080 pixels | 2246 x 1080 pixels | 2280 x 1080 pixels | 1440 x 720 pixels | 1440 x 720 pixels | 2280 x 1080 pixels |
| Operating System | Android 7.1.1 | Android 7.1.1 | Android 7.1.2 | Android 8.1 | Android 8.1 | Android 8.0 | Android 8.1 | Android 8.1 | Android 8.1 | Android 8.1 |
| Battery | 4000 mAh | 4000 mAh | 3200 mAh | 3080 mAh | 3010 mAh | 4000 mAh | 4000 mAh | 3000 mAh | 3000 mAh | 4000 mAh |
| Camera | 12 MP | 12 MP + 5 MP | 12 MP | 12MP + 5MP | 12MP + 20MP | 12MP + 5MP | 12MP + 5MP | 13 MP | 12MP + 5MP | 12MP + 5MP |
| Front Camera | 5 MP | 20 MP | 5 MP | 16 MP | 20 MP | 20 MP | 5 MP | 5 MP | 5 MP | 20MP + 2MP |
| Processor | Octa Core 2 GHz | Octa Core 2 GHz | Octa Core 1.8 GHz | Octa Core 2 GHz | Octa Core 2 GHz | Octa core 2.8 GHz | Octa Core 2 GHz | Quad Core 2 GHz | Octa Core 2 GHz | Octa Core 1.8 GHz |
| RAM | 3 GB / 4GB | 4 GB / 6 GB | 2 GB / 3GB / 4 GB | 3 GB / 4 GB | 4 GB/ 6 GB | 6 GB / 8 GB | 3 GB / 4 GB | 2 GB/ 3 GB | 3 GB | 4 GB / 6 GB |
| Internal Memory | 32 GB / 64GB | 64 GB | 16 GB / 32 GB / 64 GB | 32 GB / 64 GB | 64 GB / 128 GB | 64 GB/ 128 GB/ 256 GB | 32 GB / 64 GB | 16 GB/ 32 GB | 32 GB / 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Expandable Memory | 128 GB | 128 GB | 256 GB | 256 GB | No | 256 GB | 256 GB | 256 GB | 256 GB | 256 GB |
The cheapest model the company launched in India was Redmi 6A with a price of Rs 5,999 and the costliest model was Poco F1 256GB for Rs 28,999. As per The Mobile Indian data (which was compiled using the visitors on the website), out of all products Xiaomi’s second Android One smartphone, the Mi A2, was the most searched smartphone in 2018.
The Xiaomi Mi A2 was a desirable phone for many as it offered a stock alternative to the MIUI 10. Android purists who wanted to use a Xiaomi product were particularly attracted towards this smartphone. Moving on, the Poco F1 was yet another smartphone that came out to be a people’s choice in 2018. The smartphone is the cheapest flagship smartphone, which is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Chipset with a starting price of Rs 19,999.
The Highs
There were many high points for Xiaomi in the Indian market. The company was able to capitalise on the e-commerce sales carnivals followed by the Diwali festive period, which really helped in boosting their sale during the said tenure. The Chinese company took the initiative of making smartphones in India with the ‘Make in India’ programme, which was a welcome move.
The Lows
Coming to the lows, one problem that many suffered was the delay in getting the latest updates on Xiaomi smartphones. On one side, brands like Nokia or Asus were frequent in rolling out updates to its different models, the speed was particularly missing with Xiaomi. The company introduced MIUI 10, which is still based on Android 8.1 Oreo, while there is no concrete flow chat on when the devices will get Android 9.0 Pie update.
To know more about the full Report Card 2018 for Xiaomi India, watch this video:
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