Xiaomi to ditch Mi brand as company overtakes Samsung and Apple

It has been a long-standing tradition that smartphone makers, apart from Apple, christen their smartphones with a selected brand reserved for their mobile devices. This was very true for Samsung, which has other consumer electronics products within the market. However, some manufacturers like OnePlus saw the wisdom during a simple, Apple-like naming scheme that puts the brand front and center. While it’s going to be too late for a few companies, Xiaomi is making the unconventional decision to drop its “Mi” smartphone branding, now that its name is more or less well-known throughout the planet.

Xiaomi still isn’t a household name in smartphones like Samsung and Apple are for over a decade. Recently, however, it’s overtaken both companies in some markets or is a minimum of on the brink of doing so. So it is sensible that it wants to consolidate that branding now that it’s more popular in most markets, even while having little to no presence within the US.

Xiaomi used the “Mi” brand for its smartphones for nearly ten years, long before it introduced its affordable “Redmi” sub-brand. However, the association between Xiaomi and Mi isn’t exactly clear except to those that are already conversant with Xiaomi’s products. Therefore, Xiaomi thinks now’s the proper time to correct that perception by dropping the Mi name altogether.

Xiaomi already started this new practice with the Xiaomi MIX 4, which might are called the Mi MIX 4 like its predecessor. Furthermore, it told XDA that this branding strategy would continue with its upcoming products, suggesting that Xiaomi Mi 11T will simply be called the Xiaomi 11T. However, no word was made about the Redmi and POCO sub-brands, so it’s assumed they will retain the established order.

More than an easy name change, this rebranding also speaks volumes about Xiaomi‘s newly gained confidence within the power of its name. Although it’s yet to prove it can maintain its position, surpassing Samsung and Apple in some markets, even for just 1 / 4 is enough to show heads and make people concentrate. All while still being absent within the US smartphone market.