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Xiaomi Denies Plans for Sub Rs. 5,000 Smartphone for India: Report

Xiaomi Denies Plans for Sub-Rs. 5,000 Smartphone for India: Report

By NDTV Correspondent | Updated: 17 December 2014 14:55 IST

Xiaomi's Global Vice President, Hugo Barra, at a recent event revealed that the company is not planning to launch a sub-Rs. 5,000 smartphone in India.

According to a report, Barra while speaking at an industry conference revealed that the current condition does not makes it possible for the company to manufacture a sub-Rs. 5,000 smartphone that would deliver a "good consumer experience."

"You should get more out of a Rs. 6,000 smartphone and we've tried to deliver that experience but getting it below Rs. 6,000 looks difficult at the moment," Barra was quoted saying.

Additionally, Barra revealed that the Chinese company has been looking to invest in startups based in India for various projects including language support. He added, "Most users message in Hindi but don't use Hindi keyboards. Perhaps a different solution would address localisation issues and bring smartphones to a wider user base."

He indicated that the company has been looking for partnerships beyond apps, and which could be integrated into Xiaomi's smartphone OS.

Talking about 4G LTE services in India, Barra believes that Reliance could change the scenario when it enters the Indian market with its 4G services.

For the uninitiated, Xiaomi already has the budget Redmi 1S priced at Rs. 5,999, a phone that broke several online sales records with its flash sales held on Flipkart.

Xiaomi on Wednesday, soon after being permitted to import and sell Qualcomm chipset-based handsets in India, announced that it will hold a flash sale on December 23 (Tuesday) for the budget Redmi 1S.

Apart from the budget Redmi 1S, the company also confirmed that it will resume sales of its Redmi Note phablet in India; though it will bring the 4G model of the handset this time.

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