Five million Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 handsets have been sold in India this year

India happens to be the second largest smartphone market in the world, grabbing that title from the U.S. last year. But most major handset manufacturers can not afford to applaud this fact, mostly because of the economics involved. For 2013, the latest data available, India's per capita income was $1,570 which placed the country 112th out of 164 as measured by the World Bank. Obviously, that doesn't leave much money for consumers to purchase flagship and high-end smartphones.

However, the environment is perfect for a value-type producer such as China's Xiaomi. This past week, the company revealed that it has sold five million units of its Redmi Note 4 in India in 2017. The phone was launched in January and has become the most shipped handset in the country, managing a 7.2% share. Specs wise, the Redmi Note 4 features a 5.5-inch LCD display with a 1080 x 1920 (FHD) resolution. The Snapdragon 625 chipset powers the device, which includes 4GB of RAM and 64GB of native storage. The combination of the Snapdragon 625 and a 4100mAh battery should keep owners from worrying about finding an outlet for a late afternoon pick-me-up.

Instead of a retail sales campaign, Xiaomi has relied on weekly flash sales to help sell the Redmi Note 4. While Apple is now looking to India to make up for flagging sales in China, the Apple iPhone 7  and Apple iPhone 7 Plus are just too expensive for the market. As a result, Apple started building in India its lower priced 4-inch retro model, the Apple iPhone SE. The second-gen version of the iPhone SE is expected to debut in India during the first quarter of 2018.

To celebrate the achievement of selling 5 million units of the Redmi Note 4, Xiaomi produced a mosaic made of rice. The mosaic (which you can find in the slideshow) will feed 5 million needy people in India and Pakistan. It is nice to see Xiaomi giving back to the people in a market that has become dependent on the manufacturer's ability to sell $2 of value for $1, and have enough profit left over to survive.


source: TechRadar