Xiaomi to Resume Sales (But There’s a Catch)
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has been reportedly granted some reprieve after announcing the ban on the sale of their handsets in India last week. As per a tweet by Press Trust of India (PTI) the Delhi High Court today permitted the sale of their smartphones powered by Qualcomm chipsets till January 8 in India.
Prior to the ban, the company was selling two smartphones in the country: Redmi 1S and Redmi Note. Redmi 1s runs on a Qualcomm chipset, while Redmi Note is powered by a MediaTek processor. This release would imply that Xiaomi can sell the Redmi 1s for nearly a month. Additionally, Xiaomi had earlier planned to launch Redmi Note 4G in December, which is also powered by a Qualcomm processor implying that this too could be sold till January 8th.
Delhi HC permits Xiaomi to sell and import Qualcomm chipset based handsets till January 8.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 16, 2014
However no official word is out on the much awaited Xiaomi Mi4. Although Xiaomi planned to launch this device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, however it still remains to be seen whether they will go ahead with the launch or wait patiently till the dust settles.
Last week the Delhi High Court had passed an injunction suspending any import or sale of smartphones in India due to patent infringement complaints by Swedish telecom giant Ericsson. The court is scheduled to hear the case on February 5, so it is likely that Xiaomi phones will again be banned in the country from 9th January unless the court passes another similar order.
However, in the mean time, Xiaomi has three more ‘Happy Tuesdays’ in which they can resume their flash sales and reach out to maximum number of aggrieved customers.
