164: India Travel Guide

India in June is at its hottest time of the year; even with the air conditioning in the mall turned to the maximum, one can still feel the rolling heat waves from outside.

In the largest shopping mall in downtown New Delhi, Lei Jun looked through the lounge glass at the queue that stretched from the entrance of the Mi Home all the way to the outside of the mall, and couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion.

They say India is a golden land, and the people here have a habit of wearing and using gold. In Lei Jun's eyes, this wasn't just a golden land—it was practically gold everywhere!

Last year, Xiaomi started from the online sector and occupied ten percent of the Indian smartphone market in just one quarter. After the Chinese New Year, Xiaomi was even more unstoppable in its expansion across India. By the end of the first quarter of 2014, Dami Company's shipments in the Indian market reached a terrifying 11 million units.

This shipment volume was 47% higher than the domestic shipment volume in China!

Internet hype, flash sales, offline events, and open forums—Lei Jun had mastered the domestic playbook to perfection.

Under Lei Jun's series of combined punches, Samsung could be said to be retreating steadily, quickly losing the budget phone market.

Then there was Red Star; they still held a certain share in the 2,000-yuan price range, but Lei Jun believed that under his offensive, Red Star would soon be driven back to China by him.

As for the high-end price range, it was still an unattainable goal for Lei Jun at the moment. Red Star's ROC, the Fruit 5S, Samsung's Galaxy series, as well as LG and Sony, firmly held the high-end price segment.

However, having achieved such success in just half a year, Lei Jun was already very satisfied.

Once he occupied the entire budget and mid-range markets, he would slowly plot for the high-end.

"This damn Indian weather is really too hot."

"The temperature outside must be at least 40 degrees."

As soon as Lin Bing walked in, he first downed the ice-cold cola on the table. Everything about India was fine except for this weather and the water, which were truly unbearable.

During his last business trip to India, Lin Bing took a shower in an Indian hotel, and that night he was struck with diarrhea until he was nearly exhausted.

From then on, Lin Bing avoided coming to India if he could. If he had no choice, he would rather use bottled drinking water to shower than use the hotel shower again.

The water of the Ganges in India is truly terrifying.

Flying to India with Lei Jun this time was because Xiaomi's first flagship store in India was opening, and there were also some matters regarding the factory area that required him and Lei Jun to negotiate with the local Indian government.

"After these few days in India, I feel like I've tanned another shade darker."

"But seeing these fans and friends supporting our Xiaomi so much, it's fine if I get a bit darker." It was clear that Lei Jun was in a good mood. The new store opening event was a great success. At the media briefing last night, Lei Jun also released the brand new Hongmi 2nd Generation. With a price of 799, it was unstoppable in India—killing gods and Buddhas alike; no one could stand in its way.

More than 70% of Xiaomi's ten million sales in the first quarter were contributed by the Hongmi series. This was also the first time Xiaomi had updated a phone model abroad before doing so in China.

In fact, Xiaomi hadn't even built such an iconic Mi Phone flagship store in China yet.

"How did the talks about the factory go?" Lin Bing asked.

"The land is free to use, and they will also give us some tax incentives."

"The government requires our assembly plant to complete the first phase of construction and go into production before 2015."

"Production before 2015?" Lin Bing frowned. "Isn't the timeline a bit too tight?"

"I also think the timeline is a bit too tight."

"But they are willing to coordinate the construction teams to ensure the project can be completed before October. They will also assist us with the remaining production lines and hiring workers."

"That good?" At this moment, Lin Bing felt suspicious. Why did it feel like the Indian government had suddenly changed its nature? When they first expressed interest in building a local factory, their attitude wasn't like this.

First, they didn't agree to tax incentives, and then they hinted privately that as long as Xiaomi was willing to 'show some appreciation,' they would provide the maximum support.

"Did you 'show them some appreciation'?" Lin Bing asked.

"No, it seems New Delhi issued some kind of investment promotion document. The general idea is to vigorously support foreign investment in Indian industry and keep foreign capital in India."

"Well, that's a good thing. Once our factory goes into production, combined with India's labor costs being lower than China's, our costs will be further compressed."

"Let A-Li stay in India for a few more days; we'll fly back to China tomorrow."

The Indian market needed attention, but China was Xiaomi's base and needed even more attention. Xiaomi's first true high-end phone, the xiaomi note, could roll off the line tomorrow. Lei Jun had poured countless efforts into this device.

In terms of design, it gathered all of Xiaomi's excellent industrial designers. For the screen, it used a 2K resolution screen for the first time.

As for the battery, Lei Jun personally flew to South Korea to sign the procurement contract with LG.

Because they were using a 2K resolution screen this time, and the size was larger while also needing to account for thinness and feel, they had to use higher-density cells for the battery.

Red Star's Yangtze River Battery was not for sale to outsiders, so Lei Jun could only settle for the next best thing and go to South Korea to procure LG's high-voltage cells.

A 3600mAh cell cost nearly 8 dollars each. This price nearly made Lei Jun's heart ache with pain.

The procurement price for the cells used in his mi 3 was less than 5 dollars each. These high-voltage cells were twice as expensive, which was a bit hard for Lei Jun to accept as someone making a high-end phone for the first time.

But no matter how expensive, Lei Jun could only grit his teeth and buy them. This year's snapdragon 810's power consumption, after testing in Xiaomi's lab, was a bit pessimistic.

Under the premise of ensuring a thin feel, if they used ordinary cells, they could probably only achieve around 3100mAh. This would be a huge challenge for the power consumption control of the entire phone.

To solve the battery life issue, one either had to work on the device's power saving.

For example, controlling the processor's performance release, just like on the mi 3 Tegra 4 mobile version.

Or for example, lowering the screen resolution, like Huawei's standard operation.

Other than that, the best solution was to increase the battery size.

This method was simple, crude, and effective.

"Sigh, if only we had the Yangtze River Battery, we wouldn't have to compromise on anything else for battery life at all." Thinking about the frustration he faced at LG, Lei Jun felt a wave of annoyance.

Currently, the only high-energy-density cells on the market, besides Red Star's Yangtze River, were LG's. Red Star wouldn't sell to outsiders, so Lei Jun had no choice. If LG gave him some attitude, then so be it.

He was a businessman, after all; it wasn't shameful!