Redmi Note 3, arguably the most sought-after phone in India along with LeEco Le 2, is now available on Tata Group’s new ecommerce portal at Rs 11,400 for Axis Bank customers.
Tata Group — one of the biggest offline retailers in India — entered the competitive online retail market two months ago, naming its website CliQ.
Along with inhouse brands such as Globus and Westside, CliQ also offers inaugural discounts and cashback deals on many items including smartphones.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is currently out of stock on the official Mi website as well as most of the big portals such as Amazon and Flipkart. Not only is the model available on CliQ, the portal is also giving 5% (Rs 600) off when you buy using an Axis Bank credit or debit card – bring the effective price to Rs 11,400. (The Axis Bank offer is available across the store on bills above Rs 4,500.)
Other than CliQ, only Snapdeal still has stocks of Redmi Note 3, though the silver color is not available with them.
Redmi Note3 has been the most successful phone of 2016 and is likely to remain so, though the LeEco Le 2 is giving the phone tough competition. The phone was announced in February this year at a then unthinkable price of Rs 11,999 for the 3 GB version and Rs 9,999 for the 16 GB version.
However, Xiaomi was not able to fulfill customer expectations as it could not bring stocks into India on time. It was only towards the middle of April that the smartphone actually started selling in big enough numbers to address the huge demand.
REDMI PRO
Meanwhile, Xiaomi yesterday unveiled the successor of RN3, called Redmi Pro, powered by Helio X20 series chipsets.
The biggest update in Redmi Pro, priced at Rs 15,112 onwards in China, is the display. Instead of a regular LCD 5.5-inch screen on the Note 3, the Pro version comes with a 5.5-inch OLED display.
In OLED displays, as hinted by the name, each ‘dot’ or pixel creates its own light, while in a regular LCD screen, light is created by white LEDs placed behind the screen.
As a result, OLED displays have much better contrast (difference between white and black) as the black areas do not emit any light at all, while on LCD panels, even black areas leak some of the light coming from behind.
In addition, OLED panels tend to be more power efficient as well, as black areas are completely shut off, and colors tend to be more vibrant, though some find the colors on OLED panels over-saturated.
Another difference between the Note 3 and Pro is that the latter has a 4 GB version as well, which is priced at around Rs 20,170 in China.
The Pro also comes with advanced imaging, as it has a separate sensor exclusively to capture contrast and depth information in addition to the main 13 MP shooter. Redmi Note 3, in contrast, received its poorest ratings for its camera.
The Pro, however, will not come to India before September.
Though the Pro is more powerful than the Note, the LeEco Le 2 — already available in India — is as powerful as the Redmi Pro as is priced at just Rs 11,999.
Xiaomi has been trying to spur the sales of the Note3 in recent weeks by advertising the model on TV — a first for the company in India.
[socialpoll id=”2377624″]