Another day, another Xiaomi sale at the official Mi Store. This time we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day, with deals ongoing until 16 February (but we wouldn’t be surprised to see another sale immediately follow this one).
Anyone who spends £300 or more will get £15 off, but there are some really good details on individual products too – many of which we list below.
The fact Xiaomi always seems to have a sale going is definitely no bad thing for consumers who want to get the most for their money – especially given that even at their full prices Xiaomi products offer excellent value – though it can make it difficult to spot the very best deals and to know when is the best time to buy.
Add to that the confusion over Xiaomi’s smartphone product naming – already a mess with Mi, Redmi, Poco, Black Shark and various ‘T’s, ‘S’s and ‘Note’s scattered about, before it started removing the prefixes altogether – and we wouldn’t blame you for being at a complete loss.
Fortunately, we’re here to guide you on the best Xiaomi deals to snap up. In this article, we’ll point out the best deals to be found online. You can also check out our buying guide for details of the best Xiaomi phones, regardless of price.
We look for the best deals not only on the Xiaomi smartphones, tablets, wearables, scooters and smart home tech that we’ve thoroughly tested and reviewed, but anything else that grabs our attention in its enormous ecosystem of devices. Many of these gadgets are manufactured by third-party firms and sold under the Xiaomi brand, but they all have in common excellent quality and unbeatable value.
Xiaomi is today the world’s third biggest phone maker, but it’s still relatively unknown in the US market. Hence we are here focusing on the best UK Xiaomi deals.
Where to get the best Xiaomi deals
SIM-free Xiaomi stockists
Contract Xiaomi stockists
Best Xiaomi Deals
Xiaomi Buying Advice
Only a few years ago, importing Xiaomi phones to the UK (before they were officially sold here) was plagued with issues. Chinese ROM models do not come preinstalled with Google services, and in such cases you would need to install this yourself and navigate a Chinese menu and keyboard to get it set it up correctly.
Connectivity was also an issue, with one of the three 4G bands used in the UK (800MHz/Band 20) rarely supported, and this could leave O2 users out in the cold. Thankfully, if you take care to purchase only Global ROM models, these are all a thing of the past.
Some of these issues do still apply to other Xiaomi products, however. Xiaomi laptops typically come with a Chinese Windows 10 OS, so require some know-how to install an English operating system, an OEM version of which will cost you only £10-20. With older products, such as the Mi Band 3, Chinese versions will naturally have Chinese menu icons. And many Xiaomi products shipped from China come with Chinese user manuals – Google is your friend here if you’re not sure how to get them set up.
It’s worth pointing out that any Xiaomi product you buy from the UK Mi Store will be an English version, and none of these issues will apply. They do, however, typically command slightly higher prices, and that’s largely because Xiaomi has less control over the supply and distribution costs outside China.