Xiaomi announced today that it sold over 60 million smartphones in 2014 but the Chinese company didn’t stop there after it unveiled its newest entry-level phone: the Redmi 2.
The company’s flagship Mi devices may attract all the attention, but the sub-$150 Redmi family is its biggest seller. Back in July of last year, Xiaomi revealed it had sold 18 million Redmi (/Hongmi as it is known in China) phones and 3.56 million Redmi Note phablets. The Redmi alone accounted for one-third of total sales at the time.
The Redmi 2 keeps much of the original model’s ingredients. It has the same 4.7-inch, 1280 x 720 display, but under the hood there’s an upgraded 64-bit Qualcomm 410 quad-core processor. The device sports an 8-megapixel rear camera, improved 2-megapixel front camera, 1GB RAM and 8GB on-device storage. There is now dual 4G SIM support too.
The Redmi 2 — which runs Xiaomi’s own MIUI version of Android — also gives a few more options for color-loving customers. ‘Lime green’ and ‘powder yellow’ are the new additions to the palette.
The phone will cost 699 CNY, which is around $112, when it goes on sale on January 9. There’s no word on when it will be released outside of China, but you can be sure that the Redmi 2 will make its way to India, Indonesia and Xiaomi’s other overseas markets soon.
The Redmi and Redmi Note were a big focus for Xiaomi in India, where it clocked one million sales in its first five months. Indeed, the Redmi family has particular potential in price sensitive markets where most consumers can’t afford top of the range phones since it out-guns most other products in the sub-$150 price bracket.
Mi India: Redmi Note 4G out of stock in 6 secs today! @MiIndiaOfficial @Flipkart pic.twitter.com/OMyuTLB8ld
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Xiaomi is wasting no time announcing new products in 2015. In addition to today’s unveiling, it plans to launch its newest flagship Mi phone at an event in Beijing on January 15. We can also expect it to begin selling outside of Asia for the first time this year, although not in the U.S..
CEO Lei Jun confirmed that Xiaomi is preparing to expand sales into more countries, and the company just raised $1.1 billion to help further its business, which is already profitable. Turkey, Mexico, Russia and Southeast Asia are thought to be in its plans.
