Xiaomi will not launch its flagship Mi 6 phone in India, India Today Tech has learnt. The Mi 6, which is Xiaomi's flagship phone for year 2017, will not come to India sources say, hinting that the company will bring some other "high-end" phone to the Indian market.

Although the decision to not launch the Mi 6 in India may seem strange, and could look like heartbreaking for millions of Mi fans in India, apparently it makes sense to Xiaomi. For the last two odd years, the company has focused on the mainstream market in India, selling cheaper phones like the Redmi Note and Redmi 3S instead of bringing its premium smartphones to the country.

Instead of the Mi 6, Xiaomi will launch something else, something we don't know yet, anything but the Mi 6. That phone could be Mi Mix 2 or it could be Mi Note 3. If you thought - just like we did - that the Mi 6 had history in its favour, well, you - we - stand corrected. The company has so far stuck with its one flagship phone every year strategy with respect to India, and, it will continue to stick with it for some more time. India Today Tech has reached out to Xiaomi on its Mi 6 plans for India but the company has so far refused to comment. If we get a statement we will update our report with it.

There could me many reasons why Xiaomi is not launching the Mi 6 in India. Xiaomi has been a little reluctant to bring its true flagship phones (and other key devices) to India, and the company has been more than vocal about the reason behind it. Some of these phones (and devices) would be too expensive to sell here, and Xiaomi frankly isn't ready to take that road yet. In future, it would be perhaps. But not right now.

The Mi 5, although a fantastic smartphone, did not set the cash counters ticking for Xiaomi. Although, that could also be because the Mi 5 was in fact somewhat inferior to the OnePlus 3, which competed with it due to the similar prices of the two phone. Many also believe that the Mi 5 failed because Xiaomi did not launch the higher-spec variant in India - to possibly keep the selling price down - that led to the Mi 5's failure here. Former company VP for global, Hugo Barra had even reiterated that "it was a mistake not bringing the 64 gig Xiaomi Mi 5 to India."

According to Hugo, who left Xiaomi earlier in February, the company should have not thought about pricing, instead it should have gone ahead and launched the 64 gig Prime Mi 5 in India. Because Xiaomi couldn't afford to launch one more flagship the Mi 5 became a spot of bother for the company in question. Had it launched the 64 gig Xiaomi Mi 5, or for that matter the Mi Note 2 or the Mi Mix - which were launched later in China - things would perhaps be different.

Xiaomi is reportedly working on the Mi Note 3 and the Mi Mix 2. Although their predecessor phones did not make it to India, chances are either one of these could land in India soon enough. Alternatively, Xiaomi could launch a whole new flagship and then bring that to India.

Also Read: Xiaomi Mi 6: Full specs, price, features and everything else you need to know