Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is no stranger to making money — as China celebrated Bachelor’s Day last month, the company reported making some $188 million in sales. However, as the outfit attempts to carve out a niche in the laptop market, it looks set to use a different strategy to remain in the black.
Xiaomi is apparently not planning to compete with a luxury laptop like the MacBook in terms of specs, instead relying on more cost-effective hardware. This isn’t too much of a departure from the way that the company has handled its business in the mobile sphere, and it’s certainly proven to be successful in that market.
Leaked specs for a 15.6-inch model of the Xiaomi laptop include an Intel Haswell Core i7 and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 760M, according to a report from Hexus. Given that Intel has now moved onto Skylake, and Nvidia announced the GTX 760M in 2013, it’s clear that these aren’t the most up-to-date components.
However, that’s all by design. Xiaomi is trying to offer customers the best bang for their buck, and it seems that the company has decided that the best way of doing so is by being selective with regards to the hardware being used.
This strategy seems to have worked rather well, if the pricetag attached to these leaked specs is to be believed. The system will reportedly retail for less than 3000 Chinese Yuan, which is equivalent to around $450 — certainly not a massive investment for a relatively robust laptop.
Xiaomi is thought to be prepping multiple different models of its laptop, with 12.5-inch and a 13.3-inch variants mentioned alongside the 15.6-inch system referenced in this leak. No firm release date or pricing has been announced, but an early 2016 launch seems likely.
