Xiaomi makes some kickass phones at various prices and its flagship Mi 11 for 2021 is no different. It’s got the mighty Snapdragon 888 chipset, a fancy new design, a high-grade display, and a set of promising cameras. However, the biggest draw is the price, which in China costs almost Rs 45,000. That’s an unbelievably low price for a new 2021 premium phone, right? Sadly, it turns out that Xiaomi could warrant a higher price for global markets. How high, you ask? How about Samsung S21-rivalling prices?
Thanks to a report from 91Mobiles, we now have an idea about how much the Mi 11 would cost globally. Xiaomi seems to be serious about attaining a premium image for its Mi brand and, as a result, will show that with the price of the Mi 11. The base variant of the Mi 11 is expected to cost EUR 799 (approximately Rs 70,000). The top-end variant with more storage goes a notch higher, demanding EUR 899 (approximately Rs 78,500).
Xiaomi Mi 11 will be as expensive as the iPhone 12
With such high prices, Xiaomi is asking a lot of premium for the Mi 11. While we are yet to experience the device in India, critics have already praised the Mi 11 for delivering a premium experience. That said, Xiaomi is able to attain a much lower price range with the Mi 11 in China, and asking almost double the price in global markets seems strange.
Image: Xiaomi Mi 11
Of course, this is an early leak and there are chances that it could be false. Xiaomi could pull off a surprise and launch the phones with the same Chinese prices. However, Xiaomi has previously shown a trend of increasing the global prices, citing manufacturing and shipping as the reasons for price inflation.
Apart from the price, another point to note is the amount of RAM the phone will ship with. Unlike the Chinese version that gets 12GB RAM for the top-end model, the European version will come with 8GB RAM as standard. The base variant will have 128GB onboard while the top-end variant will come with 256GB storage.
Xiaomi did the same strategy for last year’s Mi 10 flagship series. Unlike China, India and other global markets only got the 8GB RAM variants. Additionally, the Mi 10 Pro with superior cameras never made it outside China.
Is that the reason Xiaomi is pasting a proper flagship-grade price sticker on the Mi 11? Will India and other international markets only get to see the Mi 11 as the best phone Xiaomi sells? Xiaomi will announce the Mi 11 globally on February 8 and we will have to wait until then to learn the same.
