Chinese tech firm Xiaomi on Wednesday launched what it called the first flagship phones under its Redmi sub-brand — the K20 and the K20 Pro. The company is now focussing on the premium smartphone segment (above ₹20,000) as it looks to grow its market share there. Both the newly-launched phones will go on sale from July 22 on online and offline channels.

“Starting this year, we have started seeing big movement above ₹20,000. We would want to focus on this segment also,” said Manu Jain, Managing Director, Xiaomi India. The K20 starts at ₹21,999 and the K20 Pro at ₹27,999. Both phones share similar features and build, but the K20 is powered by the Snapdragon 730 processor, while the K20 Pro gets the flagship Snapdragon 855 processor, also seen on the new OnePlus 7 phones.

Jain said the features of these phones will be highlighted in communications. “For this particular product, we would be making a lot more investments from a communication perspective,” he said.

Last year, Xiaomi’s sub-brand’s phone, Poco F1, was the phone that carried the flagship processor at the time, the Snapdragon 845, and was priced around the ₹20,000 mark. With the launch of the K series phones, the company said it has added premium features like a triple camera, glass back, etc. But that has also resulted in a cost increase, as the K20 Pro hovers around the ₹30,000 mark. “Poco was focussed only on speed. This is ticking all the boxes,” Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Xiaomi India said, responding to BusinessLine’s query on the same.

However, Xiaomi did not comment on the future of the Poco phones line-up or whether the sub-brand would see more launches.

Xiaomi will also focus on the smart home ecosystem, going forward. It already has connected devices such as air purifiers and bulbs selling in India. “While smartphone will continue to remain the core part of whatever we do, but we would eventually want to make everything smart around us,” Jain said, citing objects such as fans and chairs as examples.

comment COMMENT NOW