Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2 Android flagship received yet another price cut in India, having been treated to its second permanent discount in seven months earlier this week. The phablet is now priced at Rs. 29,999, i.e. the equivalent of $440, down from Rs. 32,999 ($485). The Mi Mix 2 was first discounted this January when Xiaomi dropped its price from Rs. 35,999 ($530), with the new price tag being offered both by the company’s Mi Home stores and its online shop, as well as its official distribution partner Flipkart.
Originally announced last September, the Mi Mix 2 made its way to India only a month following its official launch. The company already followed up on the Android flagship this March, having taken to Barcelona, Spain-based Mobile World Congress to debut the Mi Mix 2S, an almost identical device that only adopts the newer Snapdragon 845 chip from Qualcomm as opposed to last year’s Snapdragon 835. The Indian arm of the Chinese original equipment manufacturer has yet to signal whether it intends to launch the Mi Mix 2S in the South Asian country but given how its predecessor has already been discounted twice, that may not end up happening, with the implication here being that Indian consumers aren’t interested in Xiaomi’s high-end offerings as much as they’re receptive of the company’s mid-range and entry-level products, hence the frequent price cuts.
The premium segment of India’s handset market is still dominated by Samsung, Counterpoint Research reported late last month, with only OnePlus being expected to challenge the South Korean tech giant for the title of the most popular flagship brand in the country in the coming months, having just unveiled the aggressively priced OnePlus 6. India remains Xiaomi‘s largest foreign market and a big part of the reason why the Beijing-based startup is now pursuing an initial public offering in the second half of the year, having already filed for an IPO in Hong Kong following several years of immense growth in the country which raised the level of optimism among its investors to new heights.