Xiaomi India is shifting its focus from smartphone volumes and market share to revenue and higher-value customers as consumers upgrade their phones less often, Sandeep Sharma, associate director-marketing at Xiaomi India, told TNIE.
The company said it made a “conscious shift” last year to focus on value rather than volume as the Indian smartphone market has reached a plateau and consumers are keeping their phones for longer.
“For smartphones, we have sort of hit a plateau, and that's primarily because consumers are upgrading less often now,” Sharma said.
He said consumers are buying higher-end phones and keeping them for longer, helped by affordability schemes. As a result, the number of new purchases and upgrades has fallen.
“In a de-growing market, it becomes very difficult to sort of claim back market share,” Sharma said.
Instead of chasing unit sales, Xiaomi is trying to increase the value of each customer. Sharma said the company wants users of its lower-priced number series to move to higher-priced products such as the Note Pro series when they upgrade.
“If the objective is revenue, the objective is to ensure that the business thrives on revenue,” he said. “So if that is the objective, then we said the way to do it is through value, focus on value.”
The strategy also involves reducing Xiaomi's dependence on smartphones. The company said its non-smartphone revenue accounted for around 10-12% last year and has reached 16% this year.
Xiaomi is looking to expand its presence in categories including televisions, tablets and large appliances. Sharma said televisions and tablets are performing well and the company has announced plans to enter large appliances in India.
Smartphones will remain central to Xiaomi's business, but Sharma said their share of the company's overall revenue could decline as the wider ecosystem grows.
“Smartphones will still be probably the bread and butter for us,” he said. “Not necessarily from a revenue perspective that might change as our overall ecosystem progresses.”
The Redmi Note 17 5G, launched in India on Tuesday, is priced at Rs 24,999 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage version, against an MRP of Rs 27,999. The 8GB RAM and 128GB version is priced at Rs 27,999, against an MRP of Rs 30,999.
The Note 17 is positioned around the Rs 25,000 segment, which Sharma described as the “meat of the market”.
The phone has an 8,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, a 6.9-inch 120Hz AMOLED display and is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 platform. It comes with 45W charging and 22.5W reverse wired charging.