Redmi is Xiaomi’s new sub-brand, to debut with 48MP camera phone on January 10

Redmi is now officially a sub-brand of Xiaomi. Popular for budget smartphones such as Note 6 Pro and Note 5, Redmi will now operate independently - akin to Huawei's Honor sub-brand.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun in a Weibo post announced the new sub-brand along with a new logo.

"We believe, with Redmi becoming an independent brand, and Redmi and Xiaomi developing in different directions, both brands will benefit. Redmi will focus on extremely cost-efficiency and the e-commerce market while Xiaomi will focus on the mid- to high-end market and new retail," he said.

Xiaomi said it will reveal more details about its new sub-brand on January 10. The company is expected to debut Redmi sub-brand with the long-awaited 48-megapixel camera phone.

Rumoured as Redmi 7 and Redmi Pro 2, Xiaomi's next 48-megapixel camera phone is going to launch with Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor and 4,000mAh battery. It is also expected to come with three rear cameras. The smartphone will join Huawei's View20 Pro which launched last month a similar 48-megapixel camera.

Redmi will now be the second sub-brand from Xiaomi. Earlier, the Chinese handset company launched Poco brand for power users. The first smartphone under Poco brand is Poco F1, which uses the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with up to 8GB of RAM. With prices starting under ₹20,000, Poco F1 is the cheapest smartphone with Qualcomm's 845 SoC.

It's being speculated that Redmi will focus on the budget category whereas Mi will be aimed at the premium segment. Poco is likely to be the intermediary offering.

Xiaomi is clearly taking a leaf out of Huawei's book. Back in 2013, Huawei launched 'Honor' smartphone brand. Aimed at young mobile internet users, Honor currently has phones for budget, mid-range, and premium categories.