After China, Xiaomi sees huge market for Air Purifiers in India, launches Mi Air Purifier 2

For the first time Xiaomi has moved beyond smartphones, tablets and wearables in India. Xiaomi’s Global VP Hugo Barra today launched company’s first “smart home” product in India, Mi Air Purifier 2. Xiaomi has been popular in India for churning out value for money devices. And so, the Mi air purifier 2 is competitively priced at Rs. 9999 while at present Air Purifiers in India will cost anything between Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 80,000. In Barra’s words the new Mi Air Purifier 2 is “designed to disrupt the market”.

The Mi Air Purifier 2 connects to smartphones and allows remote access to the device through an app and enables users to check the air quality of a room in real-time. It has a 360° cylindrical filter with triple layer design that filters out dust, plant pollen, pet fur and bad odour. Xiaomi says the Mi Air Purifier 2 takes just 10 minutes to circulate purified air in a 21m2 room and the motor only consumes about 4.8W. It has a noise level as low as 30dB in Night mode, it also has a Turbo mode and an Auto mode which automatically adjusts the motor according to the room’s air. The Mi Home app also monitors the filter’s lifespan and sends a reminder when it needs to be replaced and the filter can be bought from company’s website for Rs. 2499. The filter roughly lasts about six months. The Mi Air Purifier 2 works with non-Xiaomi Android phones and iPhone as well.

Xiaomi will start selling the Mi Air Purifier 2 from September 26, 12pm on the company’s website and from October 2 on Flipkart as well. Considering home appliances in India are mainly bought and sold in physical retail outlets, Xiaomi India head, Manu Kumar Jain says that there is no certainty as yet on offline Xiaomi retail stores in India but he also added that India will see more products from the company’s “smart home” category in future. Xiaomi has a broader range of products in its home market China which includes Mi TV, water purifiers, air purifiers, rice cooker etc.

We will soon come out with a detailed review of the product. All we can tell you now is that its easy to install, compact and light weight, extremely quiet, blends in perfectly and often a conversation piece. And ‘Air Quality’ is a conversation that must be had. According to a report released by World Health organisation earlier this year, half of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in India. With Delhi, Patna, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow making it to the list and Gwalior which is just about 350kms from Delhi was flagged the second most polluted city in the world after Zabol in Iran.