Xiaomi confirms Redmi K20 Pro, Redmi K20 will not show any ads that MIUI has become infamous for

The Redmi K20 series marks a tectonic shift for the Redmi lineup, but if there’s one thing that many potential buyers would likely appreciate is that the Redmi K20 Pro and Redmi K20 phones will not show any ads that Xiaomi’s MIUI has become infamous for. Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain has confirmed, in an open letter sent out to Mi fans on Twitter that both these phones will not display ads. 

For those unaware, Xiaomi is an Internet company first and a hardware company later. Because it limits all profit coming from hardware sales to 5 per cent (globally), one of the ways it makes money is through ads – ads that often tend to show up across the length and breadth of MIUI, which is the software that drives majority of its phones.   

You can say that India was caught unaware when Xiaomi started serving ads in MIUI one fine day last year, out of the blue – with no prior intimation. To this day, Xiaomi continues to serve ads in MIUI, in India. The move has – for obvious reasons - not gone down well with users and has also become one of Xiaomi’s downsides that rivals such as Realme have started exploiting – letting buyers know how their phones don’t show any ads.      

Although there’s the option to limit ads in MIUI, there’s no full-proof mechanism to stop them altogether – not to mention, limiting them by selective tweaks in the UI isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Xiaomi is said to be working on revamped approach in the upcoming MIUI 11 though wherein it will seemingly show lesser ads, but that’ll come when it’ll come.  

For now, it’s nice to see at least one (or rather two) new phone from Xiaomi that is launching without ads, but that’s also possibly because the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro are the company’s most expensive Redmi smartphones in India. Manu’s open letter in fact is addressed to people who have been complaining how the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro are Xiaomi’s most expensive Redmi phones to date – and how they’re even more expensive than their Chinese counterparts. 

Manu explains that because phones like the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro pack the latest and greatest of tech (including next-generation processors) and also because Xiaomi had to revamp its entire make in India machinery to make up to 65 per cent of the parts of these phones locally, the price bump was inevitable. 

While all of this is well and good, it would be interesting to see if the company’s upcoming budget offerings are also subject to a similar fate – and if Xiaomi would be willing to stop showing ads altogether, by passing the cost on to buyers in India.