Xiaomi released a new teaser on their upcoming phone, Note 2 on Weibo, the Chinese social-media platform. As yet, Xiaomi has not specified anything about the launch or the device, but rumors and the teaser suggest that Note 2 is going to be the Chinese manufacturer's new smartphone.
Note 2 will likely launch in 3 variants -- a budget offering, a high-end model and the top-end version. The first model will have a 4 GB RAM and a 32 GB internal storage capacity, the high-end model will offer 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage, while the top-end model will offer 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB internal storage.
The three models are rumored to be priced at, respectively CNY 2,499, CNY 2,999 and CNY 3,499, which translates to ₹25,000, ₹30,000 and ₹35,000. The company might launch a new variant of the Mi 5 smartphone as well.
Of late, Xiaomi has been very active in India and China, launching a flurry of products. In a big launch in India, they unveiled their giant 6.44-inch phone, Mi Max which is priced at ₹14,999.
The company's Global Vice President, Hugo Barra, also showed off the new software offering for the Mi phones, MIUI 8 that has multiple new features.
"We think of our business as a platform and the three main pillars of that are MIUI operating system, e-commerce business and hardware,” Barra had told the Economic Times in an interview.
“We sell all these diverse products directly to our consumers and stand to make the profit for ourselves and the original device manufacturers. But having said that, I would like to reiterate that we are not becoming the next Samsung in terms of manufacturing all kinds of consumer electronics, rather we are more focused on IoT products. Since we are not into air conditioners, microwave ovens, fridges etc, we embed our wireless chips inside most third party home appliances so that they can communicate and send data back to our platforms as well,” he added.
Meanwhile in China, Xiaomi launched a new electrical bike, priced at CNY 2,999. The bike is foldable and runs 40-50 km on a single charge. Xiaomi has also launched the Mi Community in India which lets fans connect with the company for the future events and the device previews.