Xiaomi has reportedly suspended the sale of the popular smartphone Mi3 in India in order to shift focus towards Redmi 1S sale next week.
The move comes as a shock to many Mi3 fans who are desperately waiting to get their hands next week. The company has sold around 95,000 Xiaomi Mi3 units in one month. Barring 22 July sale, remaining all five flash sales got over in a few seconds.
Tuesday's (26 August) flash sale witnessed Flipkart running out of Xiaomi Mi3 stocks in just 2.4 seconds. The registration window for next Tuesday's flash sale was supposed to open later that evening at 6pm, but never got operational. Flipkart web page currently shows a message - "Registration for Mi 3 sale is closed," with no information of future availability of the device.
Technology blog, BGR India got in touch (via e-mail) with Xiaomi India head of operation Manu Jain over the issue. In reply, on Wednesday, he said, "We are focusing on Redmi 1S for the coming few weeks, we will take a call on Mi 3 post that. Please do stay tuned to our Facebook page for more information."
The news will certainly crush Xiaomi fans' heart, who were making plans to buy the Mi3 next week. Now, they just have to hope the company once done with focusing on Redmi 1S sales, to re-launch Mi3 again in India very soon.
[Also read: Xiaomi Redmi 1S Officially Launched in India; Price, Availability Details]
Key specifications of Xiaomi Mi3 and Redmi 1S:
| Models | Xiaomi Mi3 | Xiaomi Redmi 1S |
| Display | 5.0-inch full HD(1920x1080p) IPS LCD screen
Pixel density: 441 ppi |
4.7-inch HD (1280x720p) IPS LCD screen with AGC Dragontrail glass shield
Pixel density: close to 312 ppi (pixels per inch) |
| OS | Android v4.3 Jelly Bean with custom MIUI | Android v4.3 Jelly Bean with custom MIUI |
| Processor | 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series quad-core CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 series quad-core CPU with 1.6GHz CPU speed |
| GPU | Adreno 330 | Adreno 305 |
| RAM | 2GB | 1GB |
| Storage capacity | 16GB/64GB | 8GB, expandable up to 64GB |
| Camera | Main: 13.0-megapixel camera with auto-focus, dual-LED flash, HDRFront: 2.0-megapixel camera (with full HD video recording ability) | Main: 8.0-megapixel camera with auto-focus, LED flash, HDR,Front: 1.3-megapixel camera |
| Battery | 3,050 mAh; (non-removable) | 2000 mAh (Li-Polymer); |
| Network | 3G | 2G & 3G |
| Add-ons | Mini-SIM, Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), micro-USB v2.0, A-GPS, GLONASS | Dual-SIM slots, Bluetooth v4.0 (with LE, A2DP), micro-USB v2.0, GPRS/EDGE, microSD card slot, |
| Dimensions | 144.0 x 73.6 x 8.1 mm | 137.0 x 69.0 x 9.9 mm |
| Weight | 146 g | 158 g |
| Price | ₹13,999/- | ₹5,999/- |
[Image credit: Xiaomi India]
