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Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which became a top league phone brands in India within four years after its entry, says it is not worried about losing the Number 1 position to Korean phone maker Samsung in the second quarter.
After pushed to the second slot by Xiaomi, Samsung retained its leadership position in a Q2 report by Counterpoint.
Xiaomi’s Vice-President and Managing Director (India) Manu Jain makes it light saying that as long as the company is on a growth trajectory, it (the ranking) is not a concern.
“In the history of smartphones in India no brand did shipments of 10 million units in a quarter in the last 10 years. We have shipped 10 million phones in the country in the last quarter. So there is no reason for any concern to say that we didn’t do well,” he said.
On Samsung beating Xiaomi to become Number 1 brand again, he contended that a different picture would emerge in a week or so when more reports come out their findings. “There is a lot of confusion about some numbers. Wait for a week or 10 days, you will get a different picture,” he said.
“As long as we are moving in the right direction, as long as we are on the right trajectory, there is no need to worry. It is like share prices. There are some days when it goes down. But as long as you are in the right direction, there is no need for concern,” he said.
Manu Jain was in Vijayawada in connection with an agreement signed between the Andhra Pradesh Government and Holitech Technology, a supplier of Xiaomi that makes phone components, to set up a 75-acre manufacturing facility in Tirupati.
High-end range
After keeping itself in the mid range of smartphones, which has been above the average selling price (ASP) of phones in the market, Xiaomi is now setting its eyes on the premium segment.
Though he has not indicated the price range, it is likely to be over Rs 20,000.
Besides eyeing the premium market, the firm is also looking at providing upgrade options to its existing users. He, however, refused to indicate a timeline or price tag for the premium phone that it plans to launch.
The firm is set to launch Mi A2 phone this week. This is likely to be priced under Rs 20,000.
Data centres
With the Government-appointed committee on cloud computing policy favouring hosting of domestic data within the country, Xiaomi said it is open to the idea.
The company currently uses AWS data centers in the United States and Singapore. “We are open to it,” he said.
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