Xiaomi first increased the prices across its smartphone portfolio when the GST tax rate hike went into effect at the start of April. It then hiked the prices of three of its budget phones, namely the Redmi Note 8 Redmi 8, and Redmi 8A Dual about a fortnight ago. And today, Xiaomi has once again hiked the price of these 3 smartphones by up to Rs. 500 in India.
Yeah, Redmi Note 8, Redmi 8, and the recently launched Redmi 8A Dual have received a price hike for the third time in two months. While the Redmi Note 8 has received Rs. 500 hike on both the 4GB and 6GB models, the other two devices see a measly Rs. 200 increase over the last hike. Here are the old (before the hike) and new prices for all of the three devices:
- Redmi Note 8 (4GB+64GB)
- old price: Rs. 11,499
- new price: Rs. 11,999
- Redmi Note 8 (6GB+128GB)
- old price: Rs. 13,999
- new price: Rs. 14,499
- Redmi 8
- old price: Rs. 9,299
- new price: Rs. 9,499
- Redmi 8A
- old price: Rs. 7,299
- new price: Rs. 7,499
Redmi Note 8, for those unaware, launched at Rs. 9,999 earlier last year. It has been crowned as one of the best budget devices but the GST hike has taken its price to Rs. 11,999. I mean, you can get more powerful devices like the Realme 6 (features a 90Hz display) and Redmi Note 9 Pro (backed by Snapdragon 720G) by shelling out an extra couple thousand bucks.
The updated prices are already live on Xiaomi’s website, Flipkart, and Amazon India. It isn’t currently clear why the company continues to ramp up the price of the same three devices. Are they the best-selling phones in their segments and the margin isn’t enough because of the GST hike? It could be a plausible reason.
