To mark anniversary, Xiaomi to refund the entire amount of its Mi 1 to early buyers

Xiaomi marked its debut as a smartphone maker around 10 years ago, with the launch of its first-ever device - Xiaomi Mi 1. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of its smartphone business, the company has now announced a rather unique way of sharing the joy with its early buyers.

In a new post on Weibo, the Chinese tech major has announced that it will be refunding all the people who pre-booked the Mi 1 and bought it later. The smartphone was first launched in the company's home market China and hence the offer will be applicable for the Mi 1 buyers within the country.

As per Xiaomi, a total of 1,84,600 units were sold initially. The price of the affordable flagship smartphone at the time was 1,999 Yuan (~Rs 23,000). This means Xiaomi will refund a total of 370 million Yuan, or Rs 424 crore, to mark the occasion.

As spotted by Android Authority, the new post contains an attached machine-translated image suggesting that this refund will be in the form of online store credit instead of a cash or bank account refund. This means those eligible for the refund will likely receive it as Mi gift cards or store credits, which can further be used to purchase other Xiaomi products.

Offering the entire amount of the smartphone as a refund is a very bold move by the company and is sure to go down as one of the best giveaways by a company to show appreciation to early buyers. Xiaomi has cleared to the sources in a statement that the refund offer will not be observed in India.

Even though the amount might not be significant enough to buy a Xiaomi flagship now, it is sure to be sufficient for a range of Xiaomi products. A decent mid-range smartphone can be bought within this range, either by Xiaomi or its sub-brand Poco. If not for smartphones, beneficiaries of the refund can also opt for other Xiaomi products including smart home gadgets as well as wearables.

The company recently expanded this portfolio to include a robot dog dubbed the CyberDog. The company said that the CyberDog comes as an experimental machine and that it will only sell 1000 units of it.

In addition, Xiaomi also introduced its all-new flagship smartphone - the Mi Mix 4. The device comes with one of the most impressive spec lists, including an under-display selfie camera, Snapdragon 888+ processor, and 120W wired charging support. You can read all about it here.