Xiaomi CEO explains why they don’t make waterproof smartphones

Waterproof smartphones seem to be the next aim of tech giants like Apple (who recently filed a patent for such technology) but, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has negated any spawning rumors and said that the company will not be coming up with a phone with this feature in the near future.

He said that there are two overriding reasons why the market will not see a waterproof Xiaomi phone. The first being that water resistance is something that needs to persist as the device gets older. This means that before releasing such a feature, the company has to come up with a solution for the damage as there is wear and tear on the device. After a few years, one might not be able to guarantee water resistance because the technology depreciates with time.

Secondly, waterproofing a device could add around 20-30% to the base cost of the product. One of Xiaomi’s strategies has been to deliver premium quality product at affordable prices. This allows them to avoid and win competitions against the bigger players in the market like Samsung and Apple. The decision to make waterproof phones also largely depends on whether or not their loyal customers are willing to pay for it.

Sony is one of the first companies to bring waterproof phones into the market but, even they have backed out of it with their new Xperia X series. The company claimed that it bumped up the cost of the phones and it was difficult to sustain.

Thanks to a few affordable phones with spectacular specifications, the company has done extremely well in the Southeast Asian market. Its decision to launching a dedicated Mi community has reportedly received great response from beta-testers. This shows the company’s intent to make products more suitable to the Indian market in the near future.

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Nitin Agarwal

Nitin started PC-Tablet because of his keen interest in space research, technology, and gadgets. He is an avid reader, technology enthusiast, and like to explore new places. His passion for knowledge keeps him running all the time.