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Redmi is now Xiaomi's high-value sub-brand, will set sail with a new 48 MP smartphone

Redmi will be positioned against Honor and Realme. (Source: NDTV)
Redmi will be positioned against Honor and Realme. (Source: NDTV)
Yesterday, Xiaomi announced that its Redmi series of phones would no longer just be a line of phones and will now be a sub-brand of its own, a move that mirrors the relationship between Huawei and Honor, or OPPO and Realme.

Yesterday, Xiaomi announced on its official website that its Redmi line would, henceforth, be a sub-brand. The company’s Redmi line of phones has been its budget series until now, and this announcement will see it become a high-value brand of its own.

Sub-brands are the rage these days. Huawei launched its Honor brand back in 2013, with it going on to be the archetypal sub-brand, as it allowed the main Huawei brand to focus on fighting in the premium segment dominated by Apple and Samsung. OPPO, a company on the same level as Xiaomi these days, launched its Realme brand last year, and it has done reasonably well, with the company announcing that it had hit the impressive four-million-user landmark last week. Redmi isn't even the first Xiaomi sub-brand, as the company also launched the Pocophone marque in 2018.

Unlike most of the examples above, though, Xiaomi’s Redmi has little to no work to be done. Redmi devices have been Xiaomi’s cash cows, and have allowed the company to capture enough of the global smartphone market share, seeing it become the fourth biggest smartphone brand in the world. There’s also the fact that Redmi buyers may very well be some of the most loyal out there, due to the fact that Redmi phones have traditionally offered unmatched value for money.

This move will allow Xiaomi to, like Huawei, move upmarket, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see phones like the Mi 9 and Mi Mix 4 have significant increases in MSRP over their predecessors.

The company also teased the launch of a device with a 48 MP camera. This wouldn’t be the first time that device has been teased, as Xiaomi man Lin Bin did something similar a few weeks ago. According to rumors, that phone could be the Redmi Pro 2. It’s also likely that it’s an entirely new phone, though. We'll get more information on January 10, in any case. 

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 01 > Redmi is now Xiaomi's high-value sub-brand, will set sail with a new 48 MP smartphone
Ricci Rox, 2019-01- 4 (Update: 2019-01- 4)