Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has announced that it will increase the prices of some of its offerings in India starting July 1. The tech giant, which is the number 1 smartphone company in India, said that the prices of its devices will increase by about 3-6 per cent. The price hike is said to be due to the shortage of components and the supply chain constraints due to the pandemic. The price hike is not just limited to smartphones. Xiaomi said that it will also increase the prices of its smart TVs in India. The company has quietly increased the prices of some of its devices in the past couple of months. The Redmi Note 10, for instance, has already received a Rs 1,000 price hike.
A Xiaomi spokesperson told PTI that the company has struggled with supply chain constraints since last year. The Chinese tech giant has been experiencing issues in procuring several components that are used in its products. “Due to massive demand-supply mismatch, the majority of components used in smartphones, Smart TV and other electronics gadgets (chipsets, display panels, display driver, back panels, battery etc) have seen constant upward movement in their prices,” the spokesperson added.
The representative further highlighted the shipping cost that has seen an upward trend across the industry. “While we have tried to absorb the increasing costs, some of our products have witnessed a price hike. We also foresee an inevitable increase of 3-6 per cent in the prices of our smart TVs from July 1 onwards,” the spokesperson said.
Other players in the LED televisions space are also estimated to have hiked prices by 3-4 per cent this month as the cost of panels has gone up in the global market, besides an increase in logistics expenses. In April too, prices had been hiked due to a rise in operating cost on account of increased ocean freight charges, and domestic transportation costs.
TV is one of the largest segments under the entire domain of appliance and consumer electronics. It accounts for a volume of almost 17 million with an estimated sale value of almost Rs 25,000 crore. Xiaomi’s Mi range of smart TVs has had a successful run so far. The company’s top chief Manu Kumar Jain had previously said that Xiaomi sold over 3 million units of its ‘Made in India’ TVs. Xiaomi has partnered with BYD, DBG, and Radiant to strengthen its ‘Make in India’ efforts.
