Redmi’s first smartphone this year, the Redmi Note 7 turned out to be great — not like the Redmi Note 6 Pro and the Redmi 6 which were lacklustre. I mean, these two phones were not bad, they were not Xiaomi good either.

See what I did there? Xiaomi has become equivalent to value and affordability. But that’s not necessarily a good thing for the recently listed company.

The decision to split Redmi from the Xiaomi family was not just for the budget focused brand. Xiaomi’s flagship brand, ‘Mi’ should eventually benefit more from this decision. So, despite the spotlight being around Redmi going independent, I think we should see the real picture here, which is ‘Mi’ getting its own niche market.

Redmi’s the Real Hero!

Xiaomi has always been popular for its budget smartphones. Heck, if you are out to buy a budget phone, chances are, you have shortlisted a bunch of Redmi phones. Indeed it was Redmi phones that drove the company’s growth to a considerable extent all these years. So it wasn’t surprising to see analysts mentioning Redmi smartphone models that helped the Beijing-based company become the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world. But the same reports often failed to mention its flagship models.

A report from Kantar World Panel reveals that Xiaomi Mi 8 was the most popular smartphone in China in Q3 2018. So, it’s clear that the company is making efforts to fix this problem. Getting its flagship smartphones to sell well is most likely a priority for the company right now. After all, high-end smartphones command better margins, unlike budget phones. And it’s not just about margins. High-end users are likely to spend more on services, boosting overall revenue.

But with Redmi and Xiaomi walking the same road, it was always going to be difficult.

What do you think?