No Mi Max 4 this year: Xiaomi CEO

Xiaomi's CEO, Lei Jun, has released a social media post detailing the OEM's product line-up for this year. It lists the flagship Mi 9, its SE variant and the innovative slider-phone the Mi Mix 3. This message also encompasses the Redmi brand and its new devices (the Note 7 and its variants; the 7; the 7A; the K20 and K20 Pro), as well as the newly-announced brand, CC.

And that, it seems, is all from Xiaomi for the rest of this year. Despite the fact that the company has had many other product lines in previous years, it seems they are not getting a refresh in 2019. The CEO's post effectively axes the possibility of a new Mi Max or Mi Note. This countermands an earlier leak that a Mi Max 4 and 4 Pro, which were made out to be 7-inch-plus devices like the Huawei Mate 20 X, were in the works.

On the other hand, this rather abrupt change in product ranges may not be that surprising. In a world where devices with even 6-inch displays are now trending toward the more compact end of the smartphone spectrum, phablets like the Mi Max 3 look less and less necessary. In addition, the "Note" name is covered adequately by Redmi in any case.

Finally, this new announcement makes sense in light of others made by this company's executives about their ongoing plans to attract a more wealthy band of consumers to the Xiaomi name.