Now that’s a celebration to be proud of!
Xiaomi is offering refunds to everyone who purchased and/or pre-ordered their first smartphone as part of celebrating its 10th anniversary. This is the first time we’ve seen a company this dedicated to offer refunds to customers just for an anniversary celebration (that is, if they still have the original Mi 1)
Xiaomi launched in China in 2011 with focus on digital-only and advertising that depends on word-of-mouth and social media, instead of huge billboards that are quite expensive. The Mi 1 was advertised as a flagship killer, long before OnePlus would arrive.
According to Xiaomi, the company sold the Mi 1 for CNY1999 (~Php 15.6K) and had manufactured around 184,600 units. In today’s value, Xiaomi would’ve earned around CNY370 million, or around Php 3 billion! These days, most Xiaomi flagships would cost at a minimum of Php20K, or about USD400 or CNY2500.
There are worthy alternatives that are almost flagship-like. For instance, the Poco X3 GT and the Poco F3 are two examples of flagship killers using flagship chipsets.
According to their post on Weibo, the refund takes form as an online store credit rather than a physical cash refund.
Source: Android Authority