Monday, May 7, 2018

Xiaomi Redmi 5 - Xiaomi's last Hurrah

After the disastrous Redmi 4 series, Xiaomi has put out a similar showing in the Redmi 5 series. The new series is not as tiresome as the previous series, but it lacks the punch to become dominant in its intended price brackets.

The prices for the 5 series phones:


2GB RAM
16GB ROM
3GB RAM
32GB ROM
4GB RAM
64GB ROM
6GB RAM
64GB ROM
Redmi 57,9998,99910,999
Redmi Note 59,99911,999
Redmi Note 5 Pro14,99916,999

The best price / performance product that is on open sale is the Redmi Note 5 with 4GB RAM 64GB ROM. Interestingly, this version is just called the Redmi 5 Plus in Xiomi's home territory. They are peddling this phone with the "Note" moniker here.

What do you get in 12 Thousand Rupees. You DO NOT get dual cameras. You DO NOT get dual tone flash. You DO NOT get the latest Android. You GET last year's SOC. You GET a bulky phone that will more likely weigh >300 grams if you use Tempered Glass and a shock absorbing Case Cover.

So, this is most likely the same situation like the last time. The last time too, in the Redmi 4 series, Xiaomi got away by selling disappointing devices, but they did so due to the price advantage. Well, not this time. This time they do not have that much of a price advantage and this is where we can strike hard.

Who will cut Xiaomi to size. Do we have any other competition? YES WE DO.

On the Home Front we have Lava Z91, Micromax's Canvas (2018 series) and Bharat 5 (2018 series), Smartron t.phone P and srt.phone.

From the other side, there are a slew of devices from Vivo, Oppo, Huawei: Like Honor 7X, Honor 9 Lite, Vivo Y71, and more.

But the real Xiaomi Killer is ASUS. ASUS has come with the best way to finish off Xiaomi's dominance with its Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1. Now, with this phone, ASUS is going to ace the competition. And, they want more. I read in some recent news article that ASUS wants to capture the Rs 5000 to Rs 20000 market. This will definitely be bad news for Xiaomi.

How the big and mighty fall. First it was Nokia, then Microsoft, Sony is rarely seen, Samsung had to give up its crown, and now its time for Xiaomi to slunk back from where it came from.

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