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Comment by jdietrich

The Redmi phones are 95% as good as a flagship for 25% of the cost. The Mi phones are flagships, for about half the price of something from Samsung or Apple. That's a remarkable selling point and it's the basis of the Xiaomi brand. If you pay any less, you're probably going to get a substandard product. If you pay more, it's not always obvious what you're getting for your money. Xiaomi represent the platonic ideal of mid-range.

The Miui OS is hugely popular, for good reason. It has quirks and quality issues like any other phone OS, but it also packages a stock-ish Android experience with a ton of very useful features and a bare minimum of bloat. Updates are regular as clockwork, even on older devices.

Indian and Chinese consumers might want an iPhone or a Galaxy S8, but they're overwhelmingly buying Xiaomi devices. Western brands should be seriously worried about the threat that Xiaomi represent to their fat margins.

parent jdietrich 8 years ago

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