For Xiaomi fans in Pakistan its time for jubilation, as the Chinese electronics brand has officially launched Xiaomi Smartphones here in Pakistan.
Presently, this is Xiaomi’s first official entry in the country through a distribution partnership. The soft launch event was held in Islamabad today where Smart Link Technologies the official partner has announced three smartphones, including Mi Max, Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4A in Pakistan.
As reported earlier these phones will be sold at Daraz.pk and afterwards customers will be provided with warranty services from Smart Link.
Jack Yung, Xiaomi’s Sales Director of South Asia also announced the availability of Mi Band 2 in Pakistan, with more eco-products coming in the next months including VR headsets, Bluetooth speakers, cameras and power-banks.
He also briefed the participants about the flagship Xiaomi smartphones and smart home eco-system products that might launch in Pakistan as well.
Xiaomi was once considered Apple of the East:
Founded in 2010, Xiaomi is a privately owned Chinese electronics company that designs, develops and sells smartphones, mobile apps and consumer electronics.
Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun and other co-founders started the company based on the vision of innovation for everyone and by putting the fans in charge, acting upon their feedback.
It first launched its Android-based OS called MIUI in 2010, and its very first smartphone Mi 1 the following year. Emulating the world’s top smartphone makers, the company promotes a culture of cool and trendy.
Xiaomi was once considered as the “Apple of East”, but now the company is struggling to retain its position in China. Although its doing much better in newer markets like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and India.
Xiaomi success was mainly attributed to its low profit online sales model. It provided premium hardware at affordable prices, by cutting costs and reducing profit margins.
Other brands soon started following the same strategy; OnePlus, Honor and LeEco are a few to name.
Xiaomi Smartphones in Pakistan:
The Mi Max and Mi Band 2 are now live on Daraz.pk. Redmi 4A will be live on February 25 and Redmi Note 4 on March 5. All these phones and Mi Band are provided with one year warranty from Smart Link.
Xiaomi’s telecom partner Zong is also offering an free 4G mobile internet on Xiaomi smartphones for 6 months with a total of 6GB.
We’ve got word that more Xiaomi smartphones will make way to the Pakistan market in next couple of months.
Xiaomi Mi Max:
Mi Max comes with a 6.44-inch supersized screen that puts it in the phablet category. It also has a large 4850mAh battery for long viewing sessions. Based on internal tests, Mi Max can support up to 14 hours of streaming video (via Wi-Fi) in a single charge.
Other key specifications of this phone include:
- 6.44-inch IPS screen with 2.5D Gorilla Glass
- Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor and Adreno 510 GPU
- 3GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, microSD up to 256GB
- 16-Megapixel camera, f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus, dual-tone LED
- 5-Megapixel front-facing camera with wide angle
- Rear-mounted Fingerprint sensor, 4GLTE, IR Blaster and USB v2.0
- Non-removable Li-Ion 4850 mAh battery
- Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 with MIUI 8.0
- Gray, Silver, Gold Colors
- Price: Rs. 24,000 (Base Model)
Redmi Note 4:
Redmi Note 4 provides flagship-class performance, featuring the Snapdragon 625 chipset, a full-HD display and the 4100 mAh battery that can provide for a full day of entertainment.
Other key specifications of this phone include:
- Premium metal body, Anodised high-gloss aluminium lines
- 5.5-inch IPS screen with 1080p resolution
- Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor and Adreno 506 GPU
- 3GB of RAM 32GB internal storage or 4GB of RAM 64GB of internal storage
- microSD up to 128GB uses SIM 2 Slot
- 13-Megapixel camera, f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus, dual-tone LED
- 5-Megapixel front-facing camera f/2.0
- Rear-mounted Fingerprint sensor, 4GLTE, VoLTE, IR Blaster
- Non-removable Li-Ion 4100 mAh battery
- Android 6.0.1 MIUI 8.0
- Gray, Gold, Black Colors
- Price: Rs. 20,900 (Base Model)
Redmi 4A:
Redmi 4A is the entry level smartphone, packed with Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, and comes with two SIM slots and 4G support.
Other key specifications of this phone include:
- All metal unibody design
- 5-inch IPS screen with 720p resolution
- Snapdragon 420 quad-core processor and Adreno 308 GPU
- 2GB of RAM 16GB internal storage microSD up to 256GB (uses SIM 2 Slot)
- 13-Megapixel camera, f/2.2 aperture, auto-focus, LED Flash
- 5-Megapixel front-facing camera f/2.2
- Dual SIM 4GLTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3G
- Non-removable Li-Ion 3120 mAh battery
- Android 6.0.1 MIUI 8.0
- Gold and Rose Gold Colors
- Price: Rs. 13,900 (Base Model)
Mi Band 2:
The Xiaomi Mi Band 2 is a fitness band that monitor your activity levels, track walking distance and calculate calories burned. It also has a heart rate monitor and an OLED display as compared to its predecessor.
This band is also available officially in Pakistan now for the price of Rs. 3,500 and will go on sale tomorrow at daraz.pk.
Should You Get These Phones?
If you’re looking for premium specifications in a smartphone and have a low budget, then yes Xiaomi phones are a good choice. However, do keep in mind that it is relatively a new brand in Pakistan and due to the “Chinese” stamp the resale value of these phones might not be very good.
No doubt the price of Mi Max smartphone is good, same as other markets. But the Redmi Note 4 and 4a have a higher price tag by Rs. 3000 and 5,000 respectively.
In my opinion, Smart Link should have kept the same pricing strategy for all devices. Users were expecting better pricing with the official launch, because online stores are already selling these phones at inflated prices.
We also have to see what kind of after-sales service is provided by Smart Link. Since we don’t know anything about this company and usually smartphone brands have some big distributors like M&P, GreenTech and Airlink etc, which are trusted and reliable.
All things considered, we’ll try to get our hands on these devices to do the performance reviews and we do hope that Smart Link revises the pricing policy, otherwise Xiaomi might not get the early success here.
