K90 Max’s starting price is close to 3K—Has Redmi’s pricing strategy become “aggressive”?
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Against the backdrop of soaring global storage prices, even REDMI, which has always been known for its "extreme value for money," cannot withstand the pressure.
On April 21, as a new member of the REDMI K series, the REDMI K90 Max was officially released. This new device, positioned as a gaming performance flagship, is equipped with the MediaTek "Dimensity 9500" processor and comes with the "Gaming Discrete Graphics D2" chip.
However, beyond its hardcore specs, the strong market signals emitted from the K90 Max's naming and pricing strategy have garnered more attention: faced with rising prices for storage components, the price defense line for mid-range models is crumbling.
The REDMI K90 Max has versions priced at 3,499 yuan (12GB+256GB), 3,799 yuan (16GB+256GB), 3,999 yuan (12GB+512GB), and 4,299 yuan (16GB+512GB), and its top configuration "16GB+1TB" is priced at 4,999 yuan.
The official announcement states that during the first sale period, from launch until 24:00 on April 22, all versions will enjoy a 300 yuan subsidy, and the 12GB versions can additionally receive a 200 yuan e-commerce subsidy.
Even without considering the national home appliance subsidies, the actual starting price for the K90 Max's lowest configuration (12GB+256GB) remains as high as 2,999 yuan.
Notably, this time the K90 series did not continue to launch the "Ultimate" version, but instead introduced the "Max" version, whose main selling point is the industry's largest built-in mobile phone fan at 18.1mm, challenging the strongest active wind-cooling heat dissipation on mobile and offering an improved gaming experience for users.
If the K90 Max is considered a direct iterative product of the K80 Ultimate, its minimum configuration's actual starting price has increased by 400 yuan compared to the previous generation's debut price.
The K series has always been Xiaomi's core weapon for conquering the mid-range market, and its target audience is highly sensitive to price.
But as a device positioned in the mid-range, the K90 Max's starting price, even after subsidies, is still approaching the 3,000 yuan threshold, while the high-end versions directly reach the 4,999 yuan premium segment pricing.
In the current market environment of prolonged device upgrade cycles and increasingly rational consumer behavior, REDMI's move towards high-end pricing risks weakening its established cost-effectiveness moat, which could lead to loss of its target customer base and shrink its share in the highly competitive mid-range market.
According to the latest market monitoring data released by research agency Counterpoint Research, China’s smartphone shipments dropped by 4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, with the overall market still sluggish.
Amid the overall market decline, Xiaomi's performance was under even more pressure, with its domestic smartphone shipment share dropping sharply by 35% year-on-year in Q1 2026.
Having lost its absolute price advantage, whether this "Max" branded product can persuade consumers to buy based on its "strong cooling," and help Xiaomi stabilize its market foundation in an adverse scenario, remains to be tested by the market.
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