Xiaomi celebrated the tenth anniversary of its budget smartphone sub-brand Redmi on 31 July, 2023. To mark the occasion, the parent company’s top brass were seen sharing a special post on social media. Where a red colored smartphone was seen. That was the ‘first ever’ handset unveiled by Redmi, called Redmi 1 or Hongmi.
The model Redmi 1 first entered the Chinese market a decade ago on 31 July, 2013. Xiaomi’s general manager Wang Hua said on Chinese microblogging website Weibo that the first smartphone under the Redmi branding was announced 10 years ago, on July 31, 2013.
While the Redmi brand may not have celebrated its launch with much fanfare, the Hongmi or Redmi 1 smartphone delivered a ‘record-breaking’ sales performance immediately after its home-market debut. The belief that it was possible to get a smartphone with great features even at a cost of less than 1000 yuan created the confidence among the people of China.