Xiaomi ties up with Foxconn to make smartphones in India

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has tied up with Taiwanese company Foxconn to manufacture smartphones in India, as it looks to expand its presence in the country.

Foxconn, which makes iPhones for Apple, has already started producing the Redmi 2 Prime smartphone for Xiaomi at its factory in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.

Xiaomi entered India in July last year and the Redmi 2 Prime is its first device to be made locally. All the Redmi 2 Prime units sold in India will be manufactured at this facility.

"We started looking at options for local manufacturing as soon as Xiaomi entered India in July last year. Local manufacturing shows Xiaomi's commitment to being in India for the long haul, and we are also able to contribute to generating more jobs in India," said Manu Jain, Head of India Operations, Xiaomi.

The Redmi 2 Prime shares the spec sheet of the Redmi 2 with a few enhancements. It will have a 4.7-inch display with 1280x720p resolution with Asahi Dragontail glass. It will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 64bit quad-core processor and will be paired with 2GB of RAM. It will come with 16GB of internal storage and support up to 32GB of expandable memory. There will be an 8MP rear camera with LED Flash and a 2MP front camera. The dual SIM smartphone will be 4G LTE enabled and have a 2200 mAh battery. Priced at Rs 6,999, the Redmi 2 Prime will be available across Mi.com/in, Amazon, Fllipkart and Snapdeal in an open sale.

Last week, Xiaomi revealed that the company aimed to have a pan-India presence in offline retail as well. The company has partnered Redington as its distributor partner for offline retail.