Redmi K20, K20 Pro Are Costly Due To High Import Taxes, Expensive Technology: Xiaomi’s Open Letter
Xiaomi India Head Manu Kumar Jain has posted an open letter, wherein he has attempted to justify the high price of Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro, which were launched on July 17th.
Among other reasons mentioned, Xiaomi and Manu have subtly blamed high taxes, along with the cost of advanced technology, as the main reasons for the high price.
Xiaomi India: Hgh Import Taxes To Be Blamed For Redmi K20, K20 Pro Price
In the open letter posted on Twitter, Manu Kumar Jain has admitted that although 65% of the components used in the making of these smartphones were Make in India, the rest 35% were imported, and due to high import duties, the cost was escalated.
An open letter to all our Mi fans for #RedmiK20 & #RedmiK20 pro.
— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) July 18, 2019
Thanks for your unconditional love and support ?#Xiaomi ?? #FlagshipKiller pic.twitter.com/C4PDVFMTMM
Due to this, there was a ‘small pricing difference’ between the cost of the same smartphone in China, and in India.
Xiaomi fans were disappointed with the pricing of both Redmi K20, and Redmi K20 Pro in India.
While Redmi K20 starts from Rs 21,999, fans were expecting it to be priced somewhere on the lines of Realme X, which is priced Rs 16,999 for the base variant.
At the same time, Redmi K20 Pro has been priced at Rs 27,999, which was expected to be priced at Rs 25,000.
Xiaomi certainly felt the heat, as they had to present an open letter, justifying the high price.
Expensive Technology Another Reason For High Cost
Xiaomi has once again emphasized the fact that with Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro, the company wanted to provide a true flagship experience, at an affordable price.
However, in order to develop this flagship features, some advanced technological platforms were used, which were expensive, and this led to more expensive pricing.
Manu said, “Redmi K20 series is our honest attempt at that. The flagship Redmi K20 series has been in the works for more than a year. This involved a large team dedicatedly working towards perfecting the product and ensuring a truly exceptional experience for all our fans.”
Talking about Redmi K20 Pro, Manu said that the features such as SD 855 processor, Horizon AMOLED display, fire and ice design, no display ads, 7th generation in-display sensor, Game Turbo 2, 48MP AI and more are right now available only in smartphones costing Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000.
And Redmi K20 has the same ‘DNA’, as that of Redmi K20 Pro, which means expensive components, and expensive pricing.
Xiaomi said, “Please note that latest technology gets cheaper with time; we could have used older generation processors to save money or we could have waited for 6 months for component costs to go down, and hence further reduce the price of the Redmi K20. But that would have gone against our philosophy of bringing the latest innovation to you.”
Besids, the internal memory in the Indian version of Redmi K20/K20 Pro is more, compared to Chinese versions, which led to a difference in the price.
Although hardcore Xiaomi fans have responded positively to the pricing fiasco, it would be interesting to observe how the market reacts to these new ‘flagships’ from the Redmi camp.
Do you think that the costs of Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro are justified?
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