Xiaomi India has decided to hike the prices of some their featured products to cover their losses due to the huge demand. However, this news might be hard on their fan base in India. The official announcement came in their community forum and the new prices will be effective starting 1st May 2018.
Update Price Of Redmi Note 5 Pro
Xiaomi has pointed out some reasons for the sudden change in the price of Redmi Note 5 Pro. Due the huge demand, they had to increase the imports of Printed Circuit Board Assemblies(PCBAs). However, the recent changes in tax structure on PCBA imports and rupee depreciation has resulted in an increased import cost.
To ensure the steady supply of Redmi Note 5 Pro, we are marginally increasing the price of Redmi Note 5 Pro 4GB + 64GB variant by INR 1,000 to partly cover the above costs. It would be available at INR 14,999 starting Tuesday, 01 May 2018, on Mi.com, Mi Home stores, Flipkart and other offline stores.
Xiaomi has guaranteed that any pre-orders placed on the official channels will be honored for the previous price of Rs 13,999. They also said that their local PCBA production might only be able to meet the current demand by Q3 2018. Moreover, they hope to increase the manufacturing capacity to produce as many as one million units of Redmi Note 5 Pro monthly.
Updated Price Of Mi LED Smart TV 4
To add to this shocker, Xiaomi has also hiked the price of their thinnest smart TV, the Mi LED Smart TV 4. Xiaomi mentioned that they had to import more TV units to meet the current demand.
Due to the recent import tax structure change and the rupee depreciation this year, we are marginally increasing the price of Mi LED TV 4 55” by INR 5,000 and it will retail at INR 44,999 starting Tuesday, 01 May 2018, across Mi.com, Mi Home stores, and Flipkart.
However, there are no changes in the prices of Mi Smart TV 4A variants. The interesting fact is, even though their TVs are not deliverable at most pin codes in India, the demand is still high.
Update Price Of Accessories
Meanwhile, Xiaomi has also silently increased the prices of some of their accessories during the last week. This include their latest editions of Mi Power Bank 2i made specially for Indian users. But we are not forgetting the fact that Xiaomi did pass the benefits of GST rate cuts to their fans last year
Remarks
Despite the fact that Xiaomi has been selling their products in India with a Made In India sticker, they are not able to manufacture an entire unit here. They are still importing the PCBAs for the mobile phones which resulted in the price hike and to be frank this is Xiaomi’s mistake.
Xiaomi should have taken appropriate steps since such a hike in customs duty of imported parts was announced in the Union budget 2018-19. Yet, it the price change announcement, they repeated that their pricing philosophy has always been a “cost-plus” model and they strive to make the highest quality products at honest pricing. Hope the article was informative, Peace!