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Xiaomi is giving refunds to people who bought its first phone

The Mi 1 was released in China 10 years ago, and Xiaomi is celebrating in a unique way.
By
August 11, 2021
Xiaomi Mi 9T Rear casing focused on logo and carbon texture
TL;DR
  • Xiaomi has announced that it’s giving a refund to everyone who pre-ordered and bought its first phone.
  • The firm says it initially sold 184,600 units, working out to ~$57 million today.
  • This refund seems to take the form of online store credit.

Xiaomi‘s first phone, the Mi 1, was launched in its home market of China way back in 2011. This was a landmark release for the company, offering an affordable flagship almost three years before the likes of OnePlus would do the same.

Now, Xiaomi has announced that it’s giving refunds to everyone who pre-ordered and then bought the Mi 1. According to Xiaomi, it initially sold 184,600 units at 1,999 yuan (~$308) each. This works out to 370 million yuan, or $57 million today.

It’s worth noting that a machine-translated image attached to the firm’s Weibo post suggests this refund takes the form of online store credit rather than a proper cash refund. Nevertheless, this is a rather cool way for a company to acknowledge its first consumers.

You won’t be getting another Xiaomi flagship today for ~$308, but devices like the Redmi Note 10 Pro and POCO X3 Pro are well within reach. Alternatively, the company also offers a host of smart home gadgets and wearables for under ~$300.

This wasn’t the only news Xiaomi shared this week, as it also revealed the Mi Mix 4 flagship phone and a robot dog dubbed the CyberDog.