RedMi

红米

Redmi, a brand under Xiaomi Corporation, is a technology brand aimed at young people globally. It is dedicated to creating high-quality, flagship-level, and cutting-edge smartphones and smart hardware products that exceed expectations. Redmi’s brand philosophy is to “pursue love at all costs” and stand with young people around the world.

Redmi’s predecessor was the “Hongmi” product line introduced by Xiaomi Corporation on July 31, 2013. On January 3, 2019, Xiaomi Corporation officially announced the upgrade of the Redmi series to an independent sub-brand within Xiaomi’s smartphone business. On January 10, 2019, Xiaomi Corporation held a separate launch event for the Redmi brand. On March 18, 2019, Xiaomi Group Vice President and Redmi Brand General Manager Lu Weibing made the “Redmi Brand Independence Declaration.”

From the beginning, the Redmi series was positioned as a mass-market product. The first Redmi smartphone featured a MediaTek 28nm quad-core processor and a display resolution of 1280×720. In terms of sales, it collaborated with China Mobile and QQ Space. With a price of 799 yuan, it became an unstoppable force in the mid-range smartphone market. The initial batch of 100,000 units sold out, and over 9 million users made reservations through QQ Space.

In the subsequent years, Redmi continued to uphold its high-value positioning. As the Redmi product line expanded, it covered a wider price range, from as low as 499 yuan (Redmi 2A, released in March 2015 during the Mi Fan Festival) to as high as 1,499 yuan (Redmi Pro, released in July 2016). This pricing strategy sometimes overlapped with certain mid-range products under the Xiaomi brand.

On January 10, 2019, Xiaomi unveiled the new independent brand Redmi at a product launch event in Beijing. Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun stated that separating Xiaomi and Redmi and allowing them to develop in different directions would enable Xiaomi to enhance the Xiaomi brand. Redmi focuses on ultimate cost-effectiveness and primarily targets the e-commerce market, while Xiaomi focuses on the mid-to-high-end and new retail.

Lei Jun explained that the English brand names typically use letter combinations, simple and practical English words, which are challenging to trademark globally. The name “Redmi” had been used for many years in foreign markets and had significant recognition. Translating “红米” as “Redmi” was a decision advocated by Hugo Barra, the former Global Vice President of Xiaomi.

For the Chinese smartphone market, Redmi holds significant importance as its emergence eliminated the widespread counterfeit devices and contributed to the rapid proliferation of smartphones. With the official independence of the Redmi brand, it seems to have been entrusted with a new mission in this ever-evolving era.

Best-selling Products from the RedMi Brand：