Xiaomi Mi 6 handset as seen on the company's website
Xiaomi Mi 6 handset as seen on the company's website (Chinese)Xiaomi

Xiaomi Mi 6 is one of the latest flagship smartphones in the market, but saddled by the fame of the recent release of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The Mi 6 smartphone goes on sale in China on Friday, and the response for the device in the home country has been nothing short of phenomenal.

After garnering 1.2 million registrations on China's biggest online retailer, JD.com, Xiaomi is poised to rake in some huge numbers for the Mi 6. The international success of the company's flagship is a whole other story.

If it is anything like Xiaomi, the Mi 6 will make its way to international markets eventually. After China, India is the company's biggest market in terms of sales, and it won't be surprising to see the company launch its Mi 6 in the subcontinent sooner than later.

But there seems to be a different plan in motion this year, as Xiaomi is planning to exclude India for its Mi 6 release. It could be a major blow to Indian consumers, who might find this new flagship by the Chinese smartphone giant as an alternative to the pricey flagships like Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

As it appears, the pricing of the Mi 6 is the very reason why the handset won't make it to the Indian shores, India Today reported, while breaking the news of Xiaomi's plans, citing unnamed sources. To make up for the huge miss, Xiaomi might launch another "high-end" smartphone in India, and we're guessing it will not be as expensive as its counterpart.

For Xiaomi, India has been a great recipient of Redmi phones, which offer great specs, premium value at affordable cost. The previous flagship, the Mi 5, in India did not set any major records like the other Mi phones. The company hadn't launched the higher-end variant of the Mi 5 in India, which many suspected to be the reason for the phone's failure.

In the premium category, Xiaomi meets its rivals like OnePlus, which has its focus on one and only flagship smartphones. Not only OnePlus phones have great value for money, they also come at reasonable pricing as compared to giants like Apple and Samsung.

That said, Xiaomi has many other devices in the pipeline for India. Xiaomi Mi Max 2, Mi Note 3, Redmi Pro 2, and many more are said to make it to the subcontinent sometime this year. Stay tuned for more.