A company that sells phones also sells rice cookers, and now it sells cameras too! Xiaomi has really creates waves in the smartphone market since its entry into India a few years ago. Now it even manufactures phones in the country. But, this new product of theirs is surely going to change things. On Monday, Xiaomi entered the market with a mirrorless camera, under the brand name Xiaoyi.
The camera looks a bit like the Leica in the same way that the Mi phones look like the iPhones. This camera is called Xiaoyi M1. The company had launched an action camera earlier under the same brand name, but this new mirrorless camera uses a Sony-made 20-megapixel image sensor (IMX269). This is a Micro Four Thirds sensor and hence puts the M1 in the league of Sony's own NEX series cameras. The price, Yuan 2199 in China, which converts to around Rs 22,000, is for the M1 with one lens. In dual-lens kit, the cameras costs Yuan 2,999. Compared to what companies like Fuji, Panasonic and Sony charge for similar cameras, this is very aggressive pricing. Although no one is sure about the M1 coming to India.
The M1 offers ISO sensitivity of 25,600 and comes with two lenses -- 12-40mm f/3.5-5.6 and 42.5mm f/1.8. It also has a 3-inch touchscreen as well as connectivity features that will allow the camera to be controlled with a smartphone. The camera can also record 4K footage.
It is interesting that Xiaomi is entering this market at a time when camera sales are falling sharply. In particular the sale of compact cameras are down, with more and more people relying on their phones, which are increasingly getting better at clicking photos and recording videos. but it is possible that the company believes it can still give consumers a lot of value through an aggressively priced camera. It’s also another possibility that the pairing up of phone and camera in certain situations might drive people towards buying into a full ecosystem. Xiaomi already has wearable gear on the way.
