Redmi - Snapdragon 625 Love Story could Derail its Success Run

Xiaomi or its subbrand Redmi is one of my favorite brand for smartphones these days. The main reason is pocket friendly or affordable smartphone with quite good quality. The second reason is its service center is just 4 min walk from my home. There is another reason which most OEM skips - regular software update which is great on Xiaomi phones with regular MIUI updates.

Now recently Xiaomi launched Redmi Y2 in India - to target selfie lovers.

I am using Redmi Note 4 since 1 year and I am happy with its camera and overall performance. But as per their 3rd phone on the series Note 5 is a disappointing launch, rather returning customers would buy Note 5 Pro or better wait.


Now look at the similar range Redmi Phones:

Redmi Note 3 runs on Snapdragon 650 64 bit hexa core 1.8GHz, Adreno 510, 3GB/32GB, 16MP + 5MP, 5.5'' 1920x 1080p, 401ppi

Redmi Note 4 runs on Snapdragon 625 octa core 2.0GHz, Adreno 506, 4GB/64GB, 13MP CMOS + 5MP, 5.5'' 1920x 1080p, 401ppi

Redmi Note 5 runs on Snapdragon 625 octa core 2.0GHz, Adreno 506, 4GB/64GB, 12MP 1.25micron large pixel+ 5MP, 5.99'' 2160 x 1080p, 403ppi

Redmi Y1 runs on SD 435 8-core, Adreno 505, 4G/64G 13MP + 16MP/selfie light 5.5'' 1280x 720p, 401ppi

Redmi Note 5pro runs on SD 636 8core 1.8 GHz Kryo 260, Adreno 509, 4G/64G, 12/5MP + 20MP/SL, 5.99'' 2160 x 1080p, 403ppi

Redmi Y2 runs on SD 625 octa core 2.0GHz, Adreno 506, 4GB/64GB 12/5MP + 16MP/SL 5.99'' 1440x720p, 269 ppi

Mi A1 (Android One) runs on Snapdragon 625 octa core 2.0GHz Adreno 506, 4/64G 12/12MP + 5MP 5.5'' 1920x720p, 403 ppi

From the above list we can see that Xm is selling 4 smartphones running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa core processor clocked at 2.0 GHz. The only reason could be the fact that this SD625 gives Xiaomi the opportunity to keep the price minimum with such specs.

RN5pro offers best display with 2160 x 1080p resulution, while new launch Y2 holds lowest resulution display. 

Categorically these days Android smartphone can be divided into these fours: entry level (upto 8K INR), mid level (upto 15k), high mid level (upto 30k) and high level (more than 30K). 

Now camera features subdivided these phones into : basic camera, mid range camera, selfie focused camera and high range camera. 

Display also comes into consideration : full display (18:9 or 19:9) with brezel less and others. 

Now look into the above phones - they are overlapping and making the whole thing crowded and make the customer confused while buying a phone. I am putting the word 'confused' as these phones are within a similar price bracket and definitely similar features would make me confusing while choosing a phone out of them. 

Coming to the second point, right now only flagship running on Snapdragon 845 chipset is One Plus 6 - base model with 6GB/64GB costs INR 34999, while Samsung's latest flagship S9 and S9+ runs on their home grown Exynos processor. Xiaomi was late to launch Mi Mix 2 with last year's top SD 835, and this year there are plenty of flagships from LG, HTC, Sony, Motorola are just waiting to be launched in India. If Xiaomi make the delay again this year - the flagship market will be go away from them for this year too.