Select Xiaomi, Redmi, and Poco phones get free warranty extension in India

In a surprise move, Xiaomi has announced to extend the warranty period for select phones in India. The company made an announcement through Discord, of all channels, telling customers that the warranty of select Mi, Redmi and Poco phones is now valid for two years.

Xiaomi said if you have a Redmi Note 10 Pro, Redmi Note 10 Pro Max, Mi 11 Ultra, or Poco X3 Pro, you can visit the service centre for free repairs as part of an extended warranty for an additional year over and above the original warranty.

That means if you have bought any of these models in the past two years, you are eligible for the warranty extension. The reason behind Xiaomi’s decision to extend the warranty is the faulty motherboard and the malfunctioning of the selfie camera, in some cases. But considering Xiaomi is offering an extra year under the warranty means there could be more potential issues with these models and their components.

To be able to claim the extended warranty, you must produce the invoice for the phone’s purchase at the nearest Xiaomi service centre. Since the warranty is extended, the repairs or replacements will cost you nothing unless there are issues that the company deems to violate the warranty.

Xiaomi’s choice of medium to disseminate this important piece of news is rather unusual. Instead of using regular or conventional channels such as Facebook, Twitter, or its own website, Xiaomi chose Discord to let the users know about the warranty extension. According to GSMArena, there was no information about the warranty extension of the aforementioned phones on the company website. Hopefully, that will change.

Xiaomi’s new strategy for India

After having ruled the Indian smartphone market quarter after quarter, Xiaomi slipped from its top position last quarter. While Samsung once again become India’s most-selling smartphone brand after a long time, Xiaomi’s performance further dipped, bringing the brand to the fourth spot on the chart. Its shipments declined by a steep 44 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the data of Counterpoint Research.

To compensate for the lost business, Xiaomi is now reportedly shifting its focus from online channels to offline stores. According to an Economic Times report, Xiaomi is hiring for several positions for its offline stores, such as cluster managers and zonal sales managers. Aggressive hiring indicates that the company is expanding its presence among brick-and-mortar retailers. This could be an abrupt change in Xiaomi’s business strategy, which, for years, has put online sales of smartphones as a priority.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story mentioned Redmi Note 10 as part of the announcement. Xiaomi clarified there was an error on its part and the particular model will not be eligible.