Xiaomi Redmi 1S to resume sales next week

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, which had been banned by the Delhi High Court from selling, importing or manufacturing its smartphones in India, may resume sales following partial relief from the division bench of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, allowing it to sell handsets based on chips sourced from Qualcomm till 8 January.

Last week, a single judge bench of the court had restrained all sales of Xiaomi phones in India, on a complaint by technology giant Ericsson, alleging patent violation (See: Xiaomi to comply with Delhi high court order barring sales smartphones)

The Xiomi Redmi 1S sale had now been listed by Flipkart for next week and 23 December would witness a flash sale for the Qualcomm-based Redmi 1S smartphones.

However, Since Xiaomi had been temporarily banned from sale or import of non-Qualcomm-based handsets in India, commentators wonde why the Redmi Note 4G did not show up on sale. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G, a Qualcomm Snapdragon-based handset had not been restricted from sale as yet. Prior to the ban, Xiomi had confirmed the sale of the Redmi 4G to start by mid-December.

The Xiomi Redmi Note 3G and 4G handsets would not be going on sale until the cases with Ericsson and Xiomi were settled in court. With Flipkart left with limited stock for the Redmi 1S the sale would resume online.

However, Redmi 1s and the 4G version of the Redmi Note would soon resume sales in India, with the Delhi High Court lifting the ban on Xiaomi devices under certain terms, Tech 2 reported.

Hugo Barra announced in a Facebook post that the Redmi 1 would be back next week and the next sale would be held on Tuesday, 23 December on Flipkart.

The 4G version of the Redmi Note too was expected soon, however, Barra did not reveal when it would start selling in India. ''We are happy to announce that the Delhi High Court today issued a ruling in our favor, allowing us to resume sales in India subject to certain terms,'' the post said.

Xiaomi had been accused by Ericsson of infringing upon eight of its patents including AMR, EDGE and 3G technologies. Following the accusation, the Delhi High Court passed an injunction against Xiaomi barring it from sale of devices in India.

However, in an appeal filed by Xiaomi, it claimed that the company also sold devices running on Qualcomm chipsets. Qualcomm had obtained a license from Ericsson for its patented technology, which in a way meant that Xiaomi phones running on Qualcomm chipsets were not infringing upon Ericsson's patents.

The ban on Qualcomm chipsets was lifted by the Delhi High Court following the appeal.