Xiaomi will launch a premium smartphone this year, says co-founder Liwan Jiang

OnePlus recently announced that it plans to focus all of its efforts on its flagship smartphones, which also meant that the OnePlus X was the first and last of its kind. Now, Xiaomi’s Liwan Jiang says the Chinese smartphone maker is working on their most premium offering yet, and that it would be price in the range of 4000 Yuan, which will be a first for Xiaomi. In China and other Asian markets, Xiaomi is known to deliver value for money smartphones that is usually priced between the entry level up to the mid-range. While Xiaomi’s mid-range offerings do offer flagship specifications, there is always something lacking as we have seen from the recently launched Mi 5. All of this may soon be about to change as Xiaomi takes its first leap into the premium smartphone segment. GizmoChina reports Xiaomi’s Liwan Jiang saying that the premium smartphone will be priced high. But even with that high price tag (approximately Rs 40,000) the co-founder states that Xiaomi will bring even more to the table in terms of features and quality. While this may come as a shock to the thousands of Mi Fans, it appears that the brand simply wants to try out newer avenues and now that it has the experience, move to the higher tiers.