Some hours ago, Xiaomi released the new Redmi Note series, which includes the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G, the Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G and the Redmi Note 13 5G in India. With the release of any smartphone, a press release is sent across, intimating the tech world of the new arrivals.
As a part of the course, we got a press release for the new Notes, too. It all seemed in line and customary at a glance, but then something stood out. Something in that press release caught our eyes, and refused to let our gaze go elsewhere. Nothing scandalous, just very un-Note-like:
Xiaomi, the global technology brand, today announced the launch of the Redmi Note 13 Series in the Indian market, redefining the smartphone realm yet again with its premium offering.
This seems like a perfectly fine sentence, and in the grammatical and even factual sense, it truly is. But there is just one specific word in there that made us stop and stare – “Premium.” This would actually be considered a major pro in most tech books, but it is something we have a small issue with.
The affordable Note goes premium
You see, from the very inception of THE Redmi Note, the series was mainly about two things– an affordable price and competitive specs. While this has been Redmi’s and largely even Xiaomi’s core ideology with their smartphones, the Redmi Note series was perhaps the flagbearer of this philosophy.
Of late, the Redmi Notes have been going premium, both in terms of price and specs.
And while some may argue that Redmi is technically still sticking to the “competitive price and competitive specs” formula, the term ‘affordable’ seems to have been unfortunately eliminated from this equation or is being unrealistically stretched.
This is because, for the longest time, the Redmi Notes were supposed to represent the smartphone crowd, which was budget but bomb. The Redmi Notes of today are definitely a bomb, but more in terms of what they cost than in terms of what they offer. Up until the Redmi Note 7, the company stuck to a base price of Rs. 9,999, a base price which for the longest time went hand in glove with the Note series, while the high-end Redmi Notes generally capped out at close to Rs. 15,000.
Since the Redmi Note 8, we have seen the Notes inching towards higher price tags, but those advances remained very humble. Then, last year, Xiaomi decided to kick the price up by several notches and placed before us a Note, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+, reaching into the big three-O (Rs. 30,000) zone. This was a very first for the Notes and while the Pro Notes being in the Rs. 20,000 zone had seemed somewhat understandable, the Note’s move into the Rs. 30,000 seemed very un-Note-like. The premiumization of the Notes continues this year too, with the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ coming with a starting price of Rs 31,999.
Should Xiaomi have taken the “Nord Approach?”
We are not questioning whether the new Notes are value for money, and neither are we against the Redmi Notes getting better. The specs, features, and the design the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ offers including the curved display, the vegan leather back, and the 200-megapixel main sensor, are all very respectable. But while taking this “price and spec” leap, one very core part of the whole Note experience seems to have been left behind – affordability.
In the sub-Rs. 15,000 category, previous Redmi Notes aced the smartphone game and stood out as THE Redmi Note series, the Redmi Note series that arguably actually put Redmi on the tech map. There was nothing that came even close to them. In the Rs. 30,000 category, the Redmi Note Pro variants, have become pretty much ‘phones next door.’ Yes, they come with some really impressive specs, but so do other phones in the segment – this is the premium mid-segment, after all.
Instead of taking the Note name and dragging it all the way to the Rs. 30,000 segment, we wish Xioami could have used what we call the “Nord approach,” a move by OnePlus that helped it dominate a segment where it was largely invisible.
OnePlus is one of the few brands in the tech world that has had a very dynamic growth graph. After inventing and bossing the ‘flagship killer’ segment, the brand went full-on premium and then decided to get a good grip on the mid-segment as well. The company did this by not dragging an already popular smartphone series to a mid-segment price range but instead launched the Nord series– a brand new series altogether. By doing this, OnePlus not only maintained the core values and notions attached to its existing successful smartphone series but also managed to fill a gap in its portfolio by adding another series. We call this the “Nord approach.”
We think Xioami could have perhaps used a similar strategy to move up the price ladder and introduce more premium smartphones. The brand could have launched a different series that came with the idea of being premium yet competitively priced (a bit like its own on-and-off K series) instead of taking something like the Redmi Note series, which is known for its affordability and pushing it to a higher price range. This not only gives the Redmi Note series a very confusing image with phones ranging from Rs. 17,999 to almost twice as much at Rs. 35,999 (a large price bracket) but also makes Redmi lose out on a huge opportunity of having another series in the mix. After almost ten years in the market, a significant portion of which was spent as the number one brand, Xiaomi should perhaps think of moving out of its Note and Number comfort zone in a more consistent manner, especially when moving up the price and value ladder.
The Redmi Note series was built on a foundation of affordability. We really think Xiaomi should not be trying to build a premium palace on it.
