Xiaomi has been working on its 5G+AIoT strategy throughout 2019 and has planned to aggressively market 5G next year since it will bring along several benefits.
At the on-going China Mobile Global Partners Conference, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun announced that the company will release at least 10 5G smartphones next year and most of its phones priced above $285 (¥2000) will have 5G support.
Even though the claimed number of smartphones is high, considering Xiaomi’s and it’s subsidiary Redmi’s production portfolio, launching 10 5G smartphones may not be a big deal. Lei Jun also claimed that they will launch these smartphones in the first half of 2020.
With both major chipset manufacturers, Qualcomm and MediaTek, working on mid-range 5G chipsets for next year, Xiaomi’s plans look pretty doable. However, according to analysts, the minimum cost for a 5G smartphone is unlikely to be less than $342 (¥2399).
Apart from this, during the conference, Mr. Lei Jun urged China mobile to speed up the process of rolling out its eSIM that lets users use a single number on two devices such as a smartphone and a wearable that supports eSim. At this moment, the service is only available in 7 Chinese cities: Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu.
