Xiaomi to no longer use the ‘Mi’ branding for its products

• Xiaomi has reportedly decided to drop the Mi branding from its products going forward.
• This change had already begun with the recently launched MIX 4 smartphone.
• It won’t affect existing products though and only new products will launch without the Mi prefix.

Xiaomi is retiring the ‘Mi’ branding from its products which makes for the majority of the company’s expansive portfolio. Xiaomi uses Mi not just for smartphones but also for its smart TVs, fitness bands, laptops, smartwatches and other IoT products. According to a report by XDA Developers, Xiaomi will no longer use the Mi branding on its products going forward.

This change had already begun with the MIX 4, Xiaomi’s first smartphone with an under-display camera. Smartphones before the MIX 4 all had the Mi prefix before their names. This is a big change considering how it affects almost the entirety of Xiaomi’s product portfolio. Xiaomi hasn’t given a specific reason as to why it decided to drop the Mi branding. It could, however, be a way for Xiaomi to streamline the branding of its products as it already sells devices in China without the Mi branding, the report added. Xiaomi recently became the top smartphone brand in the world for the first time beating Samsung and Apple.

What happens to the existing Mi products?

There won’t be any change to the existing Mi products and they will continue to sell with the Mi branding, XDA Developers confirmed. This makes sense as going through the process of changing the branding of all its existing products would be a huge task. Xiaomi’s Mi smartphones start from the mid-range category and go up to the flagship segment as well. Its budget smartphones are offered under the Redmi branding.

Name confusion

Xiaomi’s decision to remove the Mi branding from its products will most likely create confusion among consumers, especially in India. Here, the Mi branding along with Redmi is what is commonly referred to for Xiaomi products. In fact, people in India actually prefer calling Xiaomi ‘Mi’. This might not change though even if we don’t see the Mi branding anymore.

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