The call for this interview started with a glitch. Voices cut, someone switches networks. It’s a small, almost forgettable moment but also a fitting metaphor for how most TV conversations begin today, messy, spec-heavy, and hard to follow. Xiaomi wants to simplify that. Its bet is that once you see the difference, everything else becomes clear.
In a conversation with HT Digital’s Technology Editor Shaurya Sharma on the sidelines of the Xiaomi TV S Mini LED series launch, Xiaomi India’s Sandeep Sarma, Associate Director, Marketing and PR, and Gautam Batra, Associate Director, Product Marketing, kept coming back to one idea: this is no longer about incremental upgrades
“It’s been a long enough journey. We have been doing TVs for the past eight years. From LED to QLED to now Mini LED, the jump in terms of picture quality, in terms of audio quality, and in terms of the consumer has also changed a lot. More and more consumers are looking for a more creative experience, a more premium at-home experience, because of the variety of content available. Also, the TV has always been the centrepiece of your living room, and people are upgrading their households and how their interiors look. So the TV, by virtue of being a centrepiece, also has to evolve in a similar way,” said Gautam Batra.
That evolution, Xiaomi argues, has to be visible.
“We actually showcased a comparison of what an LED does versus a Mini LED, and the difference was huge. That was the thought behind it. People are looking for an upgrade, but an upgrade that’s meaningful for the next couple of years and not just a two or three-year kind of thing,” Batra added.
And that is where Xiaomi’s strategy becomes clear. You cannot sell this shift through spec sheets alone.
“Particularly for Mini LED, our focus has been on making sure that the retail experience is there, whether it is through our own exclusive channels like Mi Stores and Mi Homes, as well as organised trade partners like Vijay Sales. We are also trying to open up more ways to experience the device on the ground. Mini LED is a technology that you have to really see. When it truly comes to experience, people would want to go to a store, compare, and then buy,” Batra said.
Sandeep Sarma points out that this thinking goes back to Xiaomi’s early days in TVs.
“When we were launching TVs in 2018 for the first time, we knew that this is a category where the touch and feel, or rather the input approval from a buyer, is very crucial. That’s why, if you look at it, 2017 was when we had the first Xiaomi Mi Home opened up, and we started expanding towards the offline as well, because until then we were mostly an online brand.”
Xiaomi’s logic here is simple. Put multiple TVs next to each other, and let the screen do the convincing.
“In large format retail, there is also the option to compare TVs with each other. They have multiple TVs, not just from a particular brand but across various different brands. That’s where they truly understand the benefit of a particular product. That’s where we have seen our TVs perform well. When consumers see it, they automatically understand that this is truly a game changer and a huge leap forward,” Sarma said.
Xiaomi says that confidence extends even when Xiaomi is up against legacy names.
“For TVs, it is actually an easier sell than some of the other categories because it’s a very visual thing. We are all visual beings, and anything that you see visually is easier for us to discern. When people see that in person, they automatically say that they are gravitating towards this, and hence this is a better product for them. As a brand, the overall acceptance of Xiaomi as a premium player is much higher in the TV category as opposed to any other category that we have,” Sarma added.
Still, premium is not just what you see on screen. It is also what happens after you bring the TV home.
“While there may be a certain level of perception, if you look at how Xiaomi functions, not just in India but globally as well, it enables us to have a wide service network. We are doing phones, TVs, and multiple categories, and that basically enables us to serve everything better. For a consumer, it makes more sense for us to have a much wider network compared to a brand that is only doing TVs,” Batra said.
Even something as basic as installation becomes part of that experience.
“If you look at installation, while it may not be called after-sales, it is a part of the purchase process. In many cases, you will see reviews where the product is delivered but the installation does not happen on time. For us, around 90 percent or more installations are done within the same day or the next day. By the next day, 90 percent of our installations are done,” he added.
Beyond TVs, Xiaomi is also nudging users into a larger connected ecosystem.
“As a brand, one of the biggest strengths that we have is to have the widest ecosystem in the world. In fact, we actually do. We are the only brand in the world that has a human x car x home ecosystem. There is always human x home, but there is no other company currently that spans this sort of width in consumer electronics. Globally, we have over a billion connected devices,” Sarma said.
Batra brings that idea down to everyday life.
“A lot of people think of ecosystem as devices talking to each other, like my phone talks to my tablet or my laptop talks to my earbuds. But what truly solves a real problem is when my phone understands where I live and how I like to live, my home understands when I leave in my car, and my car understands that when I get back home, I want my AC or purifier to be on. That kind of a broad vision is what delivers a true ecosystem experience,” he said.
And then there is the durability argument.
“Mini LED as a core technology is a lot more durable, reliable, and longer lasting. We have tested this product extensively. It does not really have shortcomings like burn-in. There is also no issue of eye irritation over long periods. So there is no drawback in that particular technology, but only added features so that there is no latency and more options for gaming,” he added.
