Xiaomi might not be a name you know so well at the moment, but it certainly will be over the next year. The company itself began as a startup merely four years ago and in that (comparatively) short time has excelled to heights other companies only envision. Most of the demand has come from China although in more recent times India is quickly becoming its major market. A large proportion of the demand for Xiaomi came when the company released its mid-range (on spec) device but at a budget price, the Redmi 1S. Since its recent release the Redmi 1S has sold in shocking amounts in India and South East Asia in general. To try and cope with the demand the device has been let loose in batches although it seems the demand simply continues to grow. On September 2nd the device was released in a batch of 40,000 units in India via Flipkart and the entire 40,000 sold out in 4.2 seconds. On September 5th 5000 units were released in Indonesia via Lazada Indonesia and again sold out in 7 minutes. Following this, another 40,000 units were again released in India on September 9th via Flipkart and again sold out in 4.5 seconds. To be clear, over two flash sales in India Xiaomi have sold 80,000 units in less than a combined 9 seconds.
With amazing sales figures like this it is not surprising that research by Strategy Analytics Country Share Tracker (CST) noted in the second quarter (Q2) of 2014, the Redmi 1S was (by volume) one of the most popular smartphones in the world. If that was not impressive enough, Xiaomi occupies roughly 14% of China’s total smartphone market which in turn (due to the population of China) equates to Xiaomi being the World’s fifth largest smartphone manufacturer based on pure volume. Between Xiaomi’s home-grown success coupled with their success in India and South East Asia the Redmi 1S is already being accredited as one of the world’s bestselling smartphones.
So what about the device? Well, it comes with a modest 4.7″ HD display with a 1280 x 720 resolution. Inside the 1S is loaded with 1 GB RAM, a Snapdragon 400 Quad-core processor (clocks at 1.6GHz) with an Adreno 305 GPU for enhanced graphics performance. In addition, the device offers an 8MP rear camera and a 1.6 MP front shooter. In terms of memory the device offers 8 GB internal storage and comes with a microSD card (which will support up to 32 GB). The device also offers 2G, 3G, dual-SIM, Bluetooth, micro USB (2.0) and comes loaded with Android 4.3 (JellyBean) although covered with Xiaomi’s own MIUI 5 OS skin on top. Probably the most attractive feature of the 1S and the reason it is so popular in the markets is the price. With the device ranging from Rs 5,999 (roughly $100) to Rs 6,999 (roughly $115) could you turn down the Redmi 1S?
