Xiaomi has hiked the prices of three of its Redmi series phones in India today, as spotted by FoneArena. These handsets are the Redmi Note 8, Redmi 8, and Redmi 8A Dual. The hike comes after the GST price rise last month.
The good news is that not all the variants are affected by this price hikes. For instance, only the 4GB + 64GB model of the Redmi Note 8 became costlier by Rs 500 taking the price to Rs 11,499. The GST price hike raised the prices by Rs 1,000 taking it to Rs 10,999 from its original launch sticker of Rs 9,999. The 6GB + 128GB model does not get any hikes and still sells for Rs 13,999.
Redmi is yet to announce the Redmi Note 9 in India, so as long as the Redmi Note 8 is alone we can expect the new prices to stay.
Similarly, the Redmi 8 4GB + 64GB model price went up by Rs 300 taking it to Rs 9,299. Earlier the phone was being sold for Rs 8,999 (with GST hike) while the launch price was Rs 7,999.
The affordable Redmi 8A Dual (2GB + 32GB) also gets a Rs 300 price raise taking its retail cost to Rs 7,299 from Rs 6,999. The new prices are already live on Mi.com, Flipkart, Amazon.in. These new prices come as a surprise as there’s no explanation for the sudden spike although an announcement from Xiaomi could be on its way.
In contrast, Realme hasn’t yet increased the prices of its phones. The Realme 5i, which is a similar to the Redmi Note 8, currently costs Rs 9,999 for the 4GB + 64GB model and looks like an interesting proposition.
The new prices come as e-commerce deliveries for non-essentials have started in Green and Orange zones in the country.
