NEW DELHI: Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 2 last week. Immediately, it was recognised for its impressive specifications and affordable price of RMB 899 for the base model. In China, already, the smartphone manufacturer has managed to sell a stunning 800,000 phones in just 12 hours, which is a record of sorts.
Unfortunately, as a report by BGR India states that the Chinese juggernaut is not going to launch the smartphone in India anytime soon. This is despite the fact; it is hosting an event on August 19 for the launch of Mi UI 7 in New Delhi.
The Redmi Note 2 was launched last week alongside the Redmi Note 2 Prime. The phone certainly looks like a potent option. It comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p full-HD screen, a 2GHz MediaTek Helios X1 processor, which is the chipset vendors top-of-the-line flagship SoC and also 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage for good measure.
The phone also has a 13-megapixel camera on the back, 5-megapixel camera for selfies, a 3,060mAh battery, and things like a dual-SIM slot and 4G LTE out of the box. The phone also runs on Android Lollipop as it runs on Mi UI 7.
You’d think that Xiaomi would be foolish to not launch the phone in India, but the issue could be related to its standards-essential patents issue with Ericsson in India.
Back in December, the 3G version of the Redmi Note was banned from sale in India. The issue pertained more towards the use of the MediaTek SoC that the phone used.
Perhaps, it could be a repeat of the same issue as even the Redmi Note 2 uses a processor from the same manufacturer. That being true, HTC’s One M9+ is sold in India and it is also powered by the MediaTek Helios. That being true, is keeping mum about the real reason why it isn’t launching the product in India.
“We are continuously evaluating new products that can be launched in India. But, as of now we do not have plans to launch Redmi Note 2 in India,” a Xiaomi spokesperson said in a report.
All we know, it could be a pure case of managing the supply chain of the product.
Xiaomi has been on fire in India. Recently, it announced its intentions to start assembly of smartphones in India at a facility in Vizag in collaboration with Foxconn as a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative.
