Is Redmi a Xiaomi brand? Country of origin and history

Xiaomi and Redmi did not begin in the same year

Xiaomi’s official history dates the company’s founding to 6 April 2010 and the Redmi smartphone launch to 2013. Its first Xiaomi Mi 1 smartphone sits between those milestones, in 2011. Redmi therefore came after the company and its first Xiaomi-branded phone.

These dates explain a common source of confusion in anniversary stories: a Xiaomi anniversary and a Redmi anniversary count from different starting points. The 2013 milestone marks Redmi’s beginning; 2010 is the company’s founding year.

What did Redmi becoming an independent brand mean?

In its first-quarter 2019 results, Xiaomi described separating Redmi as an independent brand within its own multi-brand strategy. It positioned Redmi around value for money and online sales, while describing the Xiaomi brand’s focus as advanced technology and the user experience.

This was a change in branding and product strategy, not an announcement that Redmi had become an unrelated phone company. Xiaomi’s 2025 interim report still discusses products launched under the Redmi brand as part of its smartphone business.

So both dates matter: Redmi smartphones began in 2013, and the distinct brand strategy followed in 2019. Describing 2019 as the year the first Redmi phone appeared would miss several years of its history.

How can a Chinese brand have phones made in India?

Brand ownership and manufacturing location describe different things. Xiaomi’s India FAQ says explicitly that the Redmi A4 5G is manufactured in India under the Make in India initiative. That is a model-specific example of Indian manufacturing within the Redmi range.

It does not establish the manufacturing country of every Redmi handset, including other models or phones sold in other markets. Likewise, Xiaomi’s Beijing head office does not mean that every phone bearing the Redmi name was made in China.

When someone asks whether Redmi is Chinese or Indian, first clarify whether they mean the brand’s origin or the manufacturing label on a particular device. For the brand, the answer is China; for the individual phone, check its own information.

Check the handset you are buying

For a specific purchase, ask to see the manufacturing and country-of-origin information on the actual product packaging. Keep the full model name and intended sales market with that information. A seller’s location or a familiar logo alone does not answer where that unit was made.

If the model name is unclear, our guide to identifying a Redmi Note 14 4G or 5G shows why the full variant and regional specification matter. Use the relevant regional Xiaomi information when checking a phone, rather than treating the Redmi brand name as a complete specification.