A new player is entering the South African phone market.
Mobile In Africa (MIA) Group was established out of the Core Group, which is the official distributor for Apple products in South Africa.
While MIA Group president RJ van Spaandonk remains a director of Core Group, he has left his role as executive director of the Apple distributor to lead the new company.
The two companies will function separately, he said, sharing only back-office infrastructure such as warehousing.
MIA Group’s main carrier partner at launch will be MTN, as its most affordable device, the Redmi 2, is a dual-SIM LTE smartphone.
MIA Group will also distribute Xiaomi smartphones through retailers such as Makro, Game, and Dion Wired.
The Redmi 2 will have a recommended retail price of around R2,000, while the Mi 4 will sell for around R4,000.
Specifications of the two devices are summarised in the table below.
| Specifications | Redmi 2 | Mi 4 |
| Dimensions | 134 x 67.2 x 9.4 mm | 139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm |
| Weight | 133g | 149g |
| Operating system | Android 4.4 KitKat with MIUI | Android 5 Lollipop with MIUI |
| Display | 4.7? 720p (720 x 1280) | 5? 1080p (1080 x 1920) |
| Rear camera | 8MP | 13MP |
| Front camera | 2MP | 8MP |
| Storage, internal | 8GB | 16GB |
| Storage, expandable | microSD | No |
| RAM | 1GB | 3GB |
| Processor | 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) | 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC) |
| Graphics | Adreno 306 | Adreno 330 |
| Battery | 2,200mAh (removable) | 3,080mAh |
| Cellular data | LTE | HSPA+ |
| SIM type | Dual-SIM | Single-SIM |
| RRP | R1,999 | R3,999 |
