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Xiaomi’s Mi brand TVs are extremely popular in India and the company has managed to create a loyal user base for its products. A new report now suggests that the company’s sub-brand Redmi is planning to enter India with a new smart TV line-up. Redmi TVs have been sale in the company’s home market, China.
According to a report by PTI, Xiaomi India Category Lead (Smart TV) Eshwar Nilakantan, has confirmed the company’s intentions of introducing the new Smart TV line-up in India. Considering that Xiaomi India will use the same brand strategy as its smartphones, Redmi smart TVs might appeal to more budget buyers. Previously, Xiaomi had said its Redmi franchise will be a more mass market brand, while Mi devices will focus on a more premium lineup.
Nilakantan claimed that the target audience with Redmi’s smart TV is “much younger” compared to that served by Xiaomi, and that the brand aims to make smart TVs accessible to more consumers.
In the report Nilakantan said the new TVs will be ‘Made in India’ and they will be rolled out soon. The executive also informed that the new TVs will be made by Dixon. He did not reveal any details or specifications of the upcoming smart TVs.
“The market is massive and there is space for a new brand to come in. We believe the new audience who are going to come in is going to be slightly different from let’s say the audience that we are catering to currently, which means that there is a need to have a different positioning and that is why we are entering with the Redmi brand,” he added.
Nilakantan claimed that Xaiomi’s aim has been to introduce Smart TV at lower prices to “democratise” the segment. The company had launched its first smart TV in 2018.
“In 2018, the penetration was 18 per cent, less than one-fifth of the TVs sold were smart and we wanted to democratise the segment like we had done for smartphones. Since then, the 18 per cent has grown to a little over 55 per cent. We have grown with the market and sold over 5 million smart TVs,” he said.
Nilakantan explained that India has over 200 million households, of which 170 million have a TV – 100 million of those are CRT TV and 70 million have a flat monitor.
“Smart TV penetration is only 20 million. So if you look at this overall market, there are 50 million people who would be coming and buying a smart TV, and even the 100 million households who have a CRT will be upgrading directly to a smart TV, that is a massive opportunity,” he added.
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