In an unusual move, Xiaomi India has increased the prices of two of its best-selling products of 2018- the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi LED Smart TV 4 55-inch. Starting May 1, 2018, the Redmi Note 5 Pro base variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage will retail for Rs 14,999, while the Mi LED TV 4 55-inch model will retail for Rs 44,999. The price of the Note 5 Pro is up by Rs 1,000, and the Mi LED TV 4 now costs Rs 5,000 more. Xiaomi says that the move is due to the recent changes in tax structure on PCBA imports and the depreciation of the rupee. Xiaomi says that the move is also to meet the huge demand for both the products.
"We have been seeing a huge demand for Redmi Note 5 Pro and Mi LED TV 4 55”. In order to ramp up supply for Redmi Note 5 Pro, we are importing a significant amount of PCBAs as our local PCBA production would only ramp up 100% by CY Q3 2018. With the recent changes in tax structure on PCBA imports and the depreciation of the rupee (by ~5% since the beginning of the year), this has resulted in a significant increase in costs for us," said Xiaomi India in a blog statement.
The new prices will be effective from May 1, 2018, on Mi.com, Mi Home stores, Flipkart and other offline stores where the products are available. However, the company also confirmed that it would be honouring all pre-orders of Redmi Note 5 Pro 4GB + 64GB already placed on Mi.com at the original price of Rs 13,999. The Chinese company also confirmed that with the substantial increase in the manufacturing capacity, it would be able to do a monthly volume of one million for the Redmi Note 5 Pro.
That's an unusual move from the company, but it's completely understandable. Xiaomi also hiked the prices of its Mi Power Bank 2i 10,000mAh and 20,000mAh variants by Rs 100 a couple of weeks ago.
Since the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 launch in the Indian market, every user has been waiting for price drop on the Note 5 Pro, but this move will surprise many. The Note 5 Pro 6GB RAM and 64GB storage variant still retail for Rs 16,999 in the country, maybe it's facing less demand from the consumers. Other Xiaomi devices such as the Redmi Note 5, Redmi 5 did not receive any price hike.
