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Cape Town - A local distributor has adjusted pricing for Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi prior to launching the devices in South Africa next week.
Local distributor for the brand, Mobile In Africa (MIA) Group, said that the pricing of the Xiaomi Mi 4 is expected to fall from R3 999 to R3 799. Meanwhile, the company said that the Redmi 2 costs will remain at R1 999 but that its storage will be increased from 8GB to 16GB.
The Mi 4 has features such as a stainless steel frame, a 5 inch full high definition display, and a Qualcomm SnapdragonTM processor. On the other hand, the Redmi 2 is a dual-SIM, LTE-ready smartphone that has a 4.7 inch HD screen and an 8-megapixel rear camera.
The lower prices come on the back of what MIA Group described as “tough economic times” for South Africans.
Xiaomi is set to debut in South Africa next week when it goes on sale online, at retailers such as Makro and Dion Wired and through local network operators, an MIA Group representative told Fin24.
The brand is launching in Africa after it fast became the world’s number three smartphone maker in 2014 behind Apple and Samsung by predominantly adopting an online sales model in countries such as China and India, according to researchers from the Independent Data Corporation.
And the president of MIA Group, RJ van Spaandonk, told Fin24 earlier this week that he thinks the brand could be successful in Africa which is forecast to have one billion mobile subscriptions by 2021, according to a report by Ericsson released this week.
"It's the best technology at the lowest price," said van Spaandonk of the Xiaomi brand.
MIA Group is also targeting selling the phones in Nigeria and Kenya.
"The overarching objective is to get technology products in their hands that sell just above the cost price,” van Spaandonk told Fin24 earlier this week.
"We are doing all the work. So, we bring in the product from China; we'll have a warehouse in each country that we're going to operate,” he said.
