Coronavirus hits Xiaomi, Realme launch events in India

New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi and Realme on Tuesday announced to cancel their product launch events in India this month owing to the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns -becoming the first big cancellations in the world of technology in the country.

While Xiaomi was set to launch a new Redmi Note series on March 12, Realme was set to showcase Realme 6 and 6 Pro series on March 5.

Both the events are now ‘digital-only’ ones and people can watch the live stream on social media channels and on their websites.

“We won’t be holding any launch events on-ground through March. While we’ve been planning for this launch for months, we believe this is an unprecedented yet extremely important step,” said Manu Jain, Global Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India.

“We are taking this decision with the objective of reducing exposure risk to Coronavirus COVID-19 for our Mi fans, media friends, partners and Xiaomi employees,” Jain added.

Redmi Note series over the years has seen some of the biggest product launches in India with thousands in attendance.

“We’re not holding any launch events on ground in March while we try and understand the situation more and we should have another update regarding future launches by the end of the month,” Jain elaborated.

Realme CEO Madhav Sheth said the launch of Realme 6 and 6 Pro Series which was scheduled for March 5 at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi has been cancelled due to recent reports of COVID-19 detection in New Delhi.

“We have been closely monitoring the situation since yesterday and the safety of our attendees, fans, customers, volunteers, media and staff always comes first,” said Sheth.

“Nevertheless, for our enthusiastic fans and customers, we will still be going ahead with one of our biggest launches this year in the stadium without any attendees. You are most welcome to watch our launch event live on March 5th at 12.30 pm,” he added.