Lei Jun, the founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, announced the launch of the Xiaomi 9 smartphone on Wednesday in Beijing, selling at 2,999 yuan (446 U.S. dollars), a slight price hike from previous phones. 

"This might be the last time a Xiaomi smartphone is priced within 3,000 yuan," said Lei.

Xiaomi 9 is the first flagship device in 2019 with the Snapdragon 855 processor, fifth-generation in-display fingerprint sensor and supports 20W wireless charging.

Lei revealed that Xiaomi smartphones were priced at 1,999 yuan in the past few years, contributing to high shipments in the low-end market while posing an obstacle. Xiaomi invested 4 billion yuan in R&D from January to September last year due to surging production and material costs as well as research funding required for developing cutting-edge technology.

Xiaomi has been trying to make inroads into the medium to high-end market in the past two years. It raised the minimum price of Xiaomi 6 to 2,499 yuan, Xiaomi 8 to 2,699 yuan and Xiaomi mix to 3,499, while getting positive feedback from consumers.

It is also eyeing overseas emerging markets such as India, Russia and Ukraine.

Data released by Counterpoint show that smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2018 rose by four times year on year and the average price of its smartphones were up by 24 percent, which marks an impressive improvement in winning over the medium to high-end market. 

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