Xiaomi, founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun and now global number five smartphone vendor, has launched its products to the Africa’s biggest smartphone market, Nigeria.
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The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Smartphone Tracker ‎ranked Xiaomi as the first smartphone vendor in China and fifth in the world in the third quarter 2015.

Now, ‎the company has brought the Redmi 2 and the Mi 4 to Africa through local distributor- Mobile in Africa Limited which will distribute the two smartphones to the 50 countries that constitute sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently, Mobile in Africa (MIA) Limited is setting up online stores in 14 of those countries to replicate the online-only sales strategy that Xiaomi has used in China and many other countries, with the products already selling on Jumia Nigeria.‎
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The founder ‎Lei Jun believes that high-quality technology doesn’t need to cost a fortune‎ hence Xiaomi team include  smart people from Google, Kingsoft, Microsoft, Motorola, Yahoo, and other Internet and tech companies from around the world who are painstakingly working to bring that vision to life.

Xiaomi creates remarkable hardware, software, and Internet services for and with the help of her Mi fans, as the Company incorporates their feedback into product range, which currently includes Mi 4, Mi 3, Mi Pad, Mi Box, Mi TV, Redmi 1S and Redmi Note, Mi Power Bank and other accessories. ‎
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Speaking at the products launch in Lagos, ‎Mr Rutger-Jan Van Spaandonk (RJ), chairman of the MIA Group,‎ said that the ‎fastest growing smartphone maker in the World ‎plans to bring fresh impetus into the Nigerian smartphone market, particularly with the aid of Antutu benchmarking application.

According to him, it is high time the kits were separated among other birds, adding that most supposedly smartphones, currently‎ selling in the market, are mere ‘glorified feature phones’, even with the seemingly cheap prices.‎

“I think Xiaomi is currently the one of the most exciting mobile internet brands. It is very well suited to the needs and income levels of the emerging middle classes in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
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Spaandonk added, ‎“There is a great need for mobile technology in Africa that is of top-notch quality but still affordable. What I found in Xiaomi is a company, and a business model, that can accommodate the needs of African consumers which is reflected in the founder’s vision. Nigerians deserve better smartphone experience, because some of the phones out there are just ‘glorified feature phones’, lacking in quality and productivity”‎.

‎The budget-friendly Redmi 2 and the slightly higher-end Mi 4 phones are going on sale immediately.‎‎
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Africa has been the fastest growing mobile region for the past five years with smartphone sales going up by 47% just during the 1st quarter of this year.
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Africa is the second new, fast growing market Xiaomi has entered this year as the company started introducing their products to the Indian market earlier this year.

‎Antutu Benchmarking App
He defined Antutu app‎ as ‎one of the most popular ‎benchmark apps for Android devices which users can exploit to determine the sensitivity of their devices‎.

The application tests many parts of your device and assigns an overall score. ‎
For instance, ‎device uses random access memory (RAM) as working memory, while flash storage or an internal SD card is used for long-term storage.

The faster it can write to and read data from its RAM, the faster one’s device will perform. ‎

AnTuTu thus divides the RAM scores into “RAM Operation” and “RAM Speed”‎; the overall score indicates how fast your RAM performs.
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Also, one’s ‎device’s ‎central processing unit (CPU) ‎does most of the number-crunching.

A faster CPU can run apps faster, so everything on the device will seem faster.‎ AnTuTu divides the CPU benchmark into two sub-scores — CPU integer and CPU float-point. ‎

Xiaomi Mi4
He said that ‎Xiaomi has a slightly different approach to flashing ROMs on its devices compared to many of the companies the public might be more familiar with.

The Xiaomi Mi4, he said, offers excellent specs at a low to midrange price and offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, quad core, 2.5GHz, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, 13MP back and 8MP front cameras plus a 5-inch full HD IPS screen protected by Gorilla Glass.

Furthermore it is built in a stainless steel frame with an aluminium-magnesium mid-frame.‎

Xiaomi Redmi 2 ‎
Redmi 2 comes with a 4.70-inch display with a resolution of 720 pixels by 1280 pixels at a PPI of 312 pixels per inch.

The Xiaomi Redmi 2 is powered by a 1.2 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and it comes with 1GB of RAM.

The phone packs 8GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card.

As far as the cameras are concerned, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 packs a 8-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 2-megapixel front shooter for selfies.

The Xiaomi Redmi 2 runs Android 4.4 and is powered by a 2200mAh removable battery.

It measures 134.00 x 67.20 x 9.40 (height x width x thickness) and weighs 133.00 grams.

Spaandonk added that ‎the Xiaomi Redmi 2 is a dual SIM (GSM and GSM) smartphone that accepts two Micro-SIMs.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, FM, 3G, 4G (with support for Band 40 used by some LTE networks in India). Sensors on the phone include Compass/ Magnetometer, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, Gyroscope.‎