Redmi Note 6 Pro India Launch: From Redmi Note to Redmi Note 6 Pro, A Look Back at the Redmi Note India Journey

Xiaomi has had a pretty interesting growth graph in India, with the company having established itself as the number one smartphone brand in the country, according to IDC. As of August 2018, Canalys said that the Redmi Note 5 Pro — whose successor, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro is set to launch in India this week — was the number one smartphone in India with a dual camera setup. The company has grown many folds since its entry in India in 2014, and during the festive season this year, Xiaomi managed to sell 8.5 million products, out of which 6 million were only smartphones. At the onset of the launch of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro, we take a look at the company's Redmi Note journey in India which began with the launch of the original Redmi Note in November 2014.

Xiaomi Redmi Note, Redmi Note 4G

Xiaomi's Redmi Note journey began in November 2014 with the launch of the Redmi Note and Redmi Note 4G in India. The smartphones were priced at Rs. 8,999 and Rs. 9,999 respectively, and were made available via Flipkart and Airtel stores. At the time, the company boasted that the Redmi Note 4G was the only 4G-enabled smartphone priced under Rs. 10,000. The Xiaomi Redmi Note runs on a 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MTK6592 SoC, while the Redmi Note 4G runs on a quad-core 1.6GHz Snapdragon 400 CPU.

Xiaomi Redmi Note Prime

Proving the importance of the Indian market for the company, Xiaomi became a part of the Make in India initiative in August 2015 by opening a smartphone manufacturing unit in partnership with Foxconn, in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. The company then launched the Redmi Note Prime in India in December 2015, and priced it at Rs. 8,499. The smartphone was sold exclusively via Amazon India and Mi.com, and was part of the 'Make in India' initiative. It was powered by the Snapdragon 410 processor, and packed a 3,100mAh battery as well.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

While the Redmi Note 2 and Redmi Note 2 Prime were never launched in the Indian market, the Redmi Note 3 arrived in the country in March 2016. The smartphone was made available in two RAM and storage versions - one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage, and the other with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage. The 2GB variant was priced at Rs. 9,999, while the 3GB variant was priced at Rs. 11,999. It was made available via Mi.com and Amazon.in first, and later went on sale on Flipkart and Snapdeal as well. It was the first ever device to be powered by the Snapdragon 650 SoC, and it brought a massive 4,000mAh battery and a metal body to the Redmi Note series for the first time. In over two months, the company managed to sell 600,000 units of the device in India. As per IDC, it became the number one online smartphone in Q2 2016 with 500,000 units sold, and it went on to sell 3.6 million units by the end of 2016.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

In January 2017, the company launched the Redmi Note 4 in India, and made it available in three variants — with the 2GB RAM/ 32GB inbuilt storage model priced at Rs. 9,999, the 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage model priced at Rs. 10,999, while the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage model was priced at Rs. 12,999. It was made available on Flipkart and Mi.com at first. Xiaomi managed to sell 5 million devices in the first six months, and was the highest shipped smartphone in Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2017, according to IDC. The company says that a total of 10 million units were shipped in the entire life-cycle, much more than the company's sales target, which was set at 7 million units.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro

In October 2017, IDC announced that Xiaomi was the number one smartphone brand in India for the first time. In February 2018, Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro in India. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 price in India starts at Rs. 9,999 for the 3GB RAM, 32GB storage variant, and goes up to Rs. 11,999 for the 4GB RAM, 64GB storage variant. It was made available on Flipkart, Mi Home, Mi.com, and offline stores as well. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro price in India starts at Rs. 13,999 for the 4GB RAM, 64GB storage variant, and goes up to Rs. 16,999 for the 6GB RAM, 64GB storage variant. The first sale of the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro saw 300,000 units being sold in under 3 minutes. In the first four months, the company managed to sell 5 million units of the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro. In August, IDC announced that the Redmi Note 5 Pro is the number one smartphone with a dual camera setup.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro

Now, the Redmi Note 6 Pro is all set to launch in India on November 22, and will be sold on Flipkart exclusively from November 23 onwards. The smartphone comes with dual front cameras, bigger and brighter display than the Redmi Note 5 Pro, a P2i coating for protection against everyday spills and splashes, and will run on MIUI 10 out-of-the-box. You can read our first impressions of the device.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro is powered by the same 14nm octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC, paired with an Adreno 509 GPU. Similar to the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the new model is also fuelled by a 4,000mAh battery, and it will be available in two variants — one with 4GB of RAM and another with 6GB of RAM, with internal storage at 64GB in both the models.