Xiaomi gives the $100 smartphone premium makeover

Xiaomi announced the Redmi 3 smartphone, the latest in its line of budget smartphones, which has a metal body and a large battery for CNY699. The phone runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage powered by a 4,100mAh battery, which is quite large even by the standards of top-tier smartphones. Given that it is adopting less demanding hardware, the battery life should be quite good. The company has also said that it optimized its MIUI OS to improve battery life by 25 percent. In addition, the phone has 13 and 5MP cameras on the back and front, respectively. These specifications are unusual for a phone that costs just more than $100 at current exchange rates.

Xiaomi is known for putting out great hardware at a low cost. It is how the company made its name. Xiaomi’s approach to selling smartphones proved so successful that other companies started adopting similar strategies. So far, OnePlus has been the most successful at copying Xiaomi’s business model. OnePlus’ most affordable smartphone is the OnePlus X, which costs $250. The specifications of the two phones are similar in terms of the performance users can expect, but the OnePlus X has a glass-covered back that makes the phone smoother to touch. It is also $150 more expensive. With the Redmi 3, Xiaomi is continuing the race to the bottom that it helped create. Huawei is now entering the fray by introducing its metal-encased Honor 5X to the US market for $199. The good news is that it seems to be the golden age of China smartphones, and local manufacturers have benefited enormously from having an advanced supply chain in the country.