This is big. Xiaomi has announced that it’s making Redmi, its popular budget-phone series, a separate brand.

(Update, January 4: Here’s an update to this story: Specs, gradient variant of Redmi’s 48MP-camera phone appear online.)

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun explains that the decision stems from their need to focus. By letting Redmi operate independently but still sharing with it their supply chain and research facilities, they can also concentrate on their high-end Mi brand and relatively new, “affordable premium” Pocophone brand. It’s a strategy that Huawei has successfully adopted with Honor and OPPO is currently implementing with Realme.

SEE ALSO: Pocophone F2 listed on Geekbench, but don’t get excited yet

Redmi’s first event will be held on January 10 in Beijing, where it’s expected to launch a smartphone with a 48-megapixel main camera, as suggested by a teaser it shared on Chinese social-media platform Weibo.

There’s no word yet on what the model will be called. Could it be Redmi 7 Pro, the rumored name given to a unit that, according to a TENAA listing, supposedly comes with a 5.84-inch screen with a waterdrop-style notch, a dual-rear-camera system, and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor? Could it be Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi 7, or any of the “7” permutations?

Or could the device be a successor to the Redmi Pro — the first Redmi handset to feature two cameras on the back — and be named Redmi Pro 2?

Everything is up in the air. It’s a good thing the launch is just a week from today; we won’t have to wait long to get an answer.

---