Xiaomi's latest OLED TV, the Mi TV 6 OLED, recently went on sale in China, and broke records for its speed of sales, as spotted by GizChina (opens in new tab) (via OLED-info.net (opens in new tab)). Apparently, the TV sold 10,000 units in 15 days, and occupied 50% of all OLED TV sales in the country during that period.
That's a pretty impressive result for Xiaomi, but it's easy to see why: with a price starting from 5,699 Yuan (a little under $900/£650) for the 55-inch version, it's an absolute steal. It also comes in a 65-inch model. In the UK and US, you don't find any of the best OLED TVs at that kind of level, and the more budget models rare squeak into our lists of the best TVs under £1,000 or best TVs under $1,000.
For comparison, the price I can find for the Sony A90J 65-inch is around 24,000 Yuan – so there's something of a price difference between this model and the high-end stuff.
Xiaomi has also released a Mi TV Master 77 model, which is 77 inches, features 120Hz support, and comes in at 19,999 Yuan, so is playing more in Sony's pool. But it's no surprise that the cheaper model is the attention-grabber here, given that the differences in OLED quality at different prices doesn't tend to be quite as great as the difference between LCD TVs – there's a whole lot of people with mid-range money just waiting for an OLED to come down to their price.
What about the rest of us?
Xiaomi is really pushing to become as big outside of China as it is inside of it, and has recently had its trade ban in the US lifted. If it wants to make a splash in the UK and US and become an interesting TV brand overnight, introducing the Mi TV 6 OLED in these countries would be the perfect way to do it.
Hisense and TCL have both already established themselves firmly as Chinese-based entrants to the TV race in other territories, but neither has found as much success with more premium technologies as they have at the more budget end.
A 4K OLED TV that's this cheap would certainly make life interesting – here's hoping we get a chance to buy it in the future.
