China-based mobile company Xiaomi, also known as 'Apple of China' has launched its cheapest new phone line, Hongmi here in Taiwan on this Monday. Costing only NT 3,999 ($130), the Hongmi doesn’t feel as cheap as its price-tag. It might strike a blow at HTC, and a an imaginary enemy of those local companies in Taiwan.
Hongmi has all the specs that of a high-end smartphone, Up to 1.5 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7, 4.7" HD screen giving you a sharp pixel density of around 312ppi, and an 8MP camera alone with a 1.3MP sensor in the front, including 1080p video.
It runs Android 4.2, which is just the same as those flagships from HTC. Nevertheless, Hongmi offers 1 GB RAM and a microSD slot for additional up to 32 GB of memory, also supports dual SIM card, and its battery capacity packs in 2000mAh.
Being a success story in the Chinese market, Xiaomi smartphones haven't gained widespread popularity among Taiwanese consumers due to weak service and maintenance deployments. Thus, Xiaomi decided to play hard this time by waging a cut-throat price war, believing that the strategy would help boost its sales in Taiwan.
Moreover, 10,000 of Hongmi, the initial shipment in Taiwan has been sold out. The adoption of Hongmi phones in Taiwan might present a blow to the island's former homegrown favorite, HTC, which already has unveiled its latest Desire series that is believed in reponse of Hongmi.
Its powerful yet affordable features, also has become an inspiration of those local companies in Taiwan, the GALAPAD S6 from Palit Microsystems Ltd., even claims that Xiaomi is its imaginary enemy in the market.
The manufacture of Xiaomi also in collaboration with all the big names in Taiwan, Hon Hai Group and Inventec Appliance Corp assemble phones for Xiaomi. Component suppliers to the Chinese firm include chip designer MediaTek Inc, touch-panel makers TPK Holdings Ltd and Wintek Corp , handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co and camera module maker Lite-On Technology Inc .
Xiaomi now sells its phones in Taiwan only through Far EasTone Telecommunications Co.
