Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, has confirmed via his official Weibo (Chinese social media network) account that the company has no plans to release new Mi Max and Mi Note smartphones by the end of 2019.
This may come as a surprise to some of you, at least as far as the Mi Max series is concerned. The last Mi Max variant arrived back in July last year, the Mi Max 3, and it was well received by consumers, so it’s a bit surprising that Xiaomi opted to ax it for this year.
The Mi Max 3 is a huge device, it launched with a 6.9-inch display, and it had both a large footprint and it was quite heavy, so it’s definitely not for everyone. Quite a few people opted to purchase the device, though, it was selling really well for the company.
The fact that the company will not release a new Mi Note model is much easier to process, as the last Mi Note variant arrived back in 2017. The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 was announced in September 2017, and Xiaomi managed to surprise quite a few people, as that device was a mid-ranger.
The Xiaomi Mi Note series represented flagship-grade phones until the Mi Note 3 arrived, so that was a rather weird move by the company as well. The Mi Note 3 did not sell all that well for the company, as it had plenty of competition from both other Xiaomi phones, and from the competition, so it’s not surprising that XIaomi opted to look elsewhere.
In his Weibo post, Lei Jun also reiterated that Xiaomi decided to separate Redmi, make it a separate company, so consumers have two brands to choose from now, both Xiaomi and Redmi phones. Mr. Jun also mentioned that the new Mi MIX handset will be coming, and that the new CC series of phones is planned as well, as rumors / leaks have been indicating.
Redmi is already making strides on its own, the company had recently released the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro smartphones in China, while the Redmi K20 was re-announced for global markets as the Mi 9T. The Redmi K20 Pro is also expected to arrive in markets outside of China, under the Mi 9T Pro name.
Those two devices look similar to the OnePlus 7 Pro, on the front, but they have flat displays instead. The Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro are priced very aggressively, and they are amongst the best-looking phones out there, so it’s not surprising Redmi managed to attract quite a bit of attention when launching those two devices.
Both phones come with a pop-up selfie camera, and no display notches or holes. The Redmi K20 Pro is the company’s flagship, it is fueled by the Snapdragon 855, and it comes with plenty of RAM. The Redmi K20, on the other hand, looks the same as the Redmi K20, but it comes with the Snapdragon 730 64-bit octa-core processor, one of Qualcomm’s best mid-range chips.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 4 will probably be the next big launch by Xiaomi in 2019, the company’s last flagship for the year, and quite probably the company’s most anticipated device this year. The phone is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of this year.