Is Xiaomi planning to discontinue Mi 11 Lite 4G in India?

It's only been a couple of months since the Mi 11 Lite 4G variant was launched in India and Xiaomi might already be considering to discontinue the phone. The smartphone maker is tipped to launch the 5G variant of Mi 11 Lite in the country soon and according to a new rumour will stop selling the 4G variant post that. In China, Xiaomi had launched the Mi 11 Lite in both 4G and 5G variants but, had only introduced the 5G variant in the country.

The Mi 11 Lite is Xiaomi's most expensive 4G smartphone in the country and focused more on design and in-hand feel than just the hardware. It competes with the OnePlus Nord CE 5G in the Indian market. Xiaomi's decision to only bring the 4G variant raised a few eyebrows but, the company had clarified that it will introduce a 5G variant if there is enough demand for that.

According to tipster Abhishek Yadav, the company has already discontinued the Mi 11 Lite 4G variant and will soon announce the 5G model. However, India Today Tech have learnt that Xiaomi is yet to take a decision like that, so you should not believe the rumour blindly. The smartphone is still selling, at least through the online channels.

Also, even if Xiaomi is planning to introduce the 5G variant, it doesn't make much sense to discontinue the 4G variant especially after the initial success it received. A lot of experts had chosen the iQOO Z3 and OnePlus Nord CE over Mi 11 Lite, but the sales figures suggested otherwise.

Xiaomi had managed to sell Mi 11 Lite smartphones worth Rs 200 crore in less than a week. That comes down to almost 90,000 units if we factor in the cost of the base variant. This was a pretty impressive figure for a device which was also competing against popular products like Redmi Note 10 Pro Max, Poco X3 Pro, apart from those mentioned earlier.

The Mi 11 Lite 5G is the only smartphone to feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G chip globally. It would be safe to assume that the 5G variant of Mi 11 Lite will be priced more than the 4G model and will be positioned between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000. That would make Xiaomi compete with OnePlus Nord 2 but, will also create a rivalry with Mi 11X which seems to be doing well in the same segment.