Lei Jun launched Xiaomi’s first phone in 2012. Photo credit: Xiaomi.
Xiaomi has begun phone assembly in a facility in Batam, Indonesia, the Chinese company announced today. This move allows it to obtain the necessary approval to sell its Redmi 4A smartphone in the country.
The 5-inch screen Redmi 4A, priced at about US$113, will be sold through Xiaomi’s local retail partner Erafone starting at the end of this month. The local facility where it’s going to be partly assembled has the capacity to churn out more than 100.000 devices per month.
Xiaomi introduces its assembly facility in Batam, Indonesia.
Since January, foreign smartphone makers must prove that 4G LTE phones sold in the archipelago are made up of least 30 percent “local content.” Assembly, packaging, design, and even software and R&D investments flow into the calculation of that percentage.
Apple, for example, obtained its right to continue selling iPhones after making a US$44 million R&D investment.
Xiaomi in the past had been hesitant to commit to making the necessary changes, even delaying the launch of one of its flagship models in 2015.
Amid a global decline in sales, Xiaomi has seen some recent success in India and it looks set to remain a player in Indonesia’s smartphone market – one of the largest in the world.
Additional reporting by Aditya Hadi Pratama.
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