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Xiaomi took India by storm when it entered the country with its low-cost and durable smartphones in 2014. In the two years since, it has become one of the largest online smartphone sellers in India. But as it looks at expanding its presence in the country, the Chinese company is increasingly eyeing the good ol’ brick and mortar stores.

Over the weekend, Xiaomi launched a new smartphone called the Redmi 3S+ for the Indian market. Priced at Rs 9,499 ($148), the mid-range Redmi 3S+ is company's first smartphone to be sold exclusively through offline retailers and distributors in India. The phone is available to purchase from more than 7,500 retailers including Poorvika, Sangeetha, BIG C, and LOT mobiles, Xiaomi said.

The move marks a big deviation for the company, which has until recently relied exclusively on online stores for selling its phones in India. But if the company wants to expand its presence in the country, it cannot overlook the offline market. Seven out of 10 phones sold in India are bought at offline retail stores, Tarun Pathak, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research told Mashable India.

Xiaomi’s growing focus on offline retailers is also its retaliation against other Chinese players like Huawei and Oppo who use a mix of offline and online channels for selling their smartphones in India. Lenovo, which fights with Xiaomi for the top position among online sellers in the country, also has a deep offline presence in India, for instance.

India has always been a big market for Xiaomi, but it has become especially important with the company struggling to keep up pace in its home market. The company’s phones haven't been selling as fast in China as they used to once. During the period between April and June this year, for instance, Xiaomi sold 38 percent fewer smartphones in China than it did during the same period last year. So naturally, as the company faces new competition in its home market, it is looking at India and other nations where it operates for further growth.

Seven out of 10 smartphones are sold through offline retailers in India.

Its focus to boost its offline efforts also illustrates company’s attempt to fight for the seventy percent of the market that it previously didn’t even cater to. “They need to scale up. For the past few quarters they have been stuck at a million per quarter sales,” Pathak added. “A mix of offline vs online as a channel strategy should be beneficial for Xiaomi. It needs to invest in cities and other areas such as UP, North east, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, where smartphone penetration is picking up.”

Xiaomi realizes that and it has been steadily stitching together the pieces to sell phones in India through offline chains. Over the past year, the company has tied-up with Redington, Innocomm and Just Buy Live offline big chain retailers among others. The company’s recent phones including the Redmi Note 3, Mi 5, and Redmi 3S are available in the offline market through these chains. 

Moving forward, the company tells Mashable India it will make all its future phones available in the offline market as well. The company reaffirmed that it aims for a 70 to 30 ratio for sales through online and offline retailers respectively. "Currently, 90 per cent of our sales in India are online and the remaining is offline. In steady state, in China, it is a 70-30 (online-offline) split," Manu Kumar Jain, head of Xiaomi India had said last year. 

Xiaomi, the Chinese company that makes phones with specs that top Samsung and Apple flagships, and then sells them at half the price, is at it again. 

The company just launched two new phones in China: The Mi 5s and the Mi 5s Plus. The phones are an obvious answer to the iPhone — both are very, very powerful devices, but the 5s Plus is bigger and has a dual camera. 

As you might imagine, the specs on these things are top notch. The Xiaomi Mi 5s has a 5.15-inch, Full HD screen, a 2.15GHz Snapdragon 821 chip, 3/4GB of RAM and 64/128GB of storage. 

It also has a fingerprint scanner has a 12-megapixel rear camera, and a 4-megapixel selfie cam with an f/2.0 aperture and 2-micron pixels. 

The price is RMB 1,999 or $300 for the 3GB/64GB variant, while the 4GB/128GB version costs RMB 2,299 or $345. 

5s Plus currently the most powerful out there

As for the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, it is, on paper, currently the most powerful smartphone out there. It has a 5.7-inch, Full HD screen, a 2.35GHz Snapdragon 821 chip, 4/6GB of RAM, 64/128GB of storage, and a fingerprint scanner. 

It also has a Sony-made, dual, 13-megapixel camera on the back, the setup being similar to the dual-camera setup on the Huawei P9 — one camera takes color snaps and the other monochrome for increased sharpness. The selfie cam on the front is also a 4-megapixel one.  

The price for the 4GB/64GB variant is RMB 2299 ($345), while the 6GB/128GB version costs RMB 2,599 ($390). 

While the spec sheet for both devices reads great (especially considering the price), there's more technical wizardry going on there that's not immediately apparent. 

For example, the fingerprint sensor on both phones is ultrasonic and placed under glass, which should theoretically mean it will not wear out with use. And the dual camera on the Mi 5s Plus sits flush with the phone's back, unlike the one on the iPhone 7 Plus. 

Design-wide, the phones aren't far off their predecessor, the Mi 5. Both have an aluminium body and a curvy back, with a round fingerprint sensor nested below the rear camera. 

There's no jet black (or any sort of black) option, however — an odd omission from Xiaomi which takes pride in following in Apple's footsteps (and sometimes being a step ahead, as well). 

The phones will be available in four colors: gold, rose gold, silver and white, and will go on sale starting Sept. 29. There's no word on international availability. 

After taking Indians by storm with its affordable smartphones and tablets, Xiaomi plans to bring its Mi Air Purifier 2 in the country. The product will also mark the launch of the company’s Mi Ecosystem in India.

Xiaomi has sent out media invites for the launch of its first Mi Ecosystem in the country on Sept. 21. Its official Twitter handle has been dropping hints about the product being the Mi Air Purifier 2. The company’s new air purifier connects to smartphones and allows remote control access to the device as well as offer the ability to check the air quality of a room in real-time.

The launch of the air purifier comes at a time when Indian cities continue to top among the world’s most polluted places to live. The World Health Organization reported 10 Indian cities among the world's top 20 most polluted cities. The city of Gwalior, which is 350 kilometers away from New Delhi, was flagged as the second most polluted city in the world, only short of Iran’s Zabol. 

Air purifiers are yet to become a household product in India.

Air purifiers are yet to become a household product in India. One could find one of these at their local market or at an online shopping portal for as much as Rs 30,000 ($450). But many don’t want to spend as much money on such a product. Its Mi Air Purifier retails for roughly $100 in China, and many hope to see it in India at a price of about $150.

It could be a déjà vu moment for Xiaomi, which, entered India in 2014 with its affordable Mi 3 smartphone. It has since launched a range of phones and has become one of the most popular smartphone brands among youth by offering smartphones at lower prices but better hardware than its rivals.  

The Mi Air Purifier 2 sports a slim and compact form factor. It offers air cleaning at a rate of 388 cubic meters per hour, and makes little noise when operating. Unlike many other air purifiers, it doesn’t require any internal cleaning. Instead it needs its filter changed every three to six months, which users get alerted about on their smartphone.

If the rapid ascent of the wearables as a hot new category is, after the tepid reception to the Apple Watch, poised to falter, Xiaomi's uninspiring new Amazfit may be the final death knell for the smartwatch. 

Unveiled by Xiaomi-backed company Huami during an event in China this week, the device features GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and packs a heart rate monitor for fitness tracking. 

Very little information is available regarding the device on either company's official website but, according to GSM Arena, the device will offer up to 35 hours of battery life, is waterproof and works with the MiFitt app for the iOS and Android. According to the report, if you switch the device to pedometer mode you can get about 11 days of battery life from it. 

As a late entry into the smartwatch wars, currently dominated by the Apple Watch, the device is fairly lackluster. However, the wearable does give Xiaomi a slightly more competitive entry in the wearable space compared to its previous offerings. 

No announcement has been made regarding its availability in the U.S., but the Amazfit is already available for pre-order sales on Alibaba's TMall.com site. And that's what may be the Amazfit's saving grace. Priced at about $120, this is one of the most affordable yet feature-rich smartwatches we've ever seen.