Xiaomi is the king of mid-range and affordable phones, but their next step is to focus on more premium devices. Despite smashing success with cheap devices, to the tune of $40 billion, Xiaomi VP (and former Googler) Hugo Barra says the company is going premium.
Hugo says the price of their products has already started going up in the last few years. He claims that Xiaomi customers are demanding higher quality devices. Xiaomi’s arch rival, Huawei, has seen a similar approach. Huawei, like Xiaomi, started with very affordable devices. In recent years they have launched high-end devices like the Huawei Mate 8 and Nexus 6P.
The competition is China is fierce, so it’s no surprise that Xiaomi would want to keep up with Huawei. The two companies are constantly battling with Apple for the top spot in China. Xiaomi already makes some of the nicest affordable devices. We can’t wait to see what they do with more premium materials and components. At Mobile World Congress, we were blown away by the Mi5. Bring on more Xiaomi flagships!
[via cnet]