[Rumor] Xiaomi To Tap In To PC Gaming Market With Mechanical Keyboards?

[snowComet]

Finally some English source for this rumor, although the rumor started last week, the English articles lack of the translation of the funny responses from Cherry China (Cherry's China Division), and one of the source is WCCFTech (sorry  )...

Since last week there are rumors among Chinese tech sites and Weibo, that Xiaomi is going to make mechanical keyboards, and most of the components are made by Huizhou Greetech Electronics Co., Ltd . Then later more rumors surfaced, saying the Xiaomi mechanical keyboard will have 3 different models, priced at RMB$99, RMB$119 and RMB$149.

This rumor took an hilarous turn by Cherry China's response to this rumor. When this rumor first surfaced in Weibo last week, Cherry China reponse in Weibo, saying

年轻人第一把机械键盘，采用全球领先的米轴，单键1亿次使用寿命，顶配版只要199。

"Xiaomi Mechanical Keyboard, the first mechanical keyboard for youngsters. It use the world-leading Mi-Switch, has operating life of 100 million cycles. Top model is only RMB$199."

http://www.weibo.com/2418895143/CfZ7d41sd?from=page_1006062418895143_profile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime&type=comment (in Chinese)

 

Then one of Xiaomi's co-founders, Sun Peng (孙鹏), who's now a software engineer, and Ecological chain product planning director of Xiaomi, replied to Cherry's response,

是的，只要Cherry中国按照成本价供给小米，去掉渠道利润，199就可以买到机械键盘

"Yes, If Cherry sold us those switches with cost price. Without channel profit, we could make a RMB$199 mechanical keyboard".

http://www.weibo.com/1782068057/CgfsfDJvK?from=page_1005051782068057_profile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime

(in Chinese)

and Cherry responsed,

小米真要做啊

"Xiaomi is really going to do it( making mechanical keyboard) !?"

http://www.weibo.com/2418895143/CgfwNzzjA?from=page_1006062418895143_profile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime&type=comment (in Chinese)

Then when the rumor about pricing of the Xiaomi mechanical keyboard surfaced on Weibo, Cherry China response again, saying

内置MIUI，可连接手机、平板、电视、智能家居等设备，生态圈的最后一个闭环，智能机械键盘，RGB顶配版只要149元。好吧，我编不下去了。

"With MIUI, you can connect the keyboard with other gadgets like smartphones, tablets, TV, smart home appliances. The last component in Xiaomi's ecosystem, smart mechanical keyboard, Top model with RGB is only RMB$149. Ok, I can't continue making stuff up like this..."

http://www.weibo.com/2418895143/CgHoIec3u?from=page_1006062418895143_profile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime

(In Chinese)

If Xiaomi make a mechanical keyboard, will you buy one?

 

http://technews.co/2015/05/04/more-evidence-of-xiaomis-interest-in-pcs-surfaces/

 

http://wccftech.com/xiaomi-tap-pc-gaming-market-mechanical-keyboards/

 

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/423/423164.htm(in Chinese)

 

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/423/423659.htm(in Chinese)

 

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/425/425201.htm(in Chinese)

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

If it's cheap and rgb with the built quality of their existing products then I'm sold

[JAKEBAB]

Inb4 people find a key logger inside it lol

[Trik'Stari]

Inb4 people find a key logger inside it lol

The force is strong with this one....

[Diederik_Gr]

Inb4 people find a key logger inside it lol

Was it proven that Xiaomi themselves rigged their devices with keyloggers? I've heard stories going around that the retailers installed them.

OP: I wanna see how this will end. Could be interesting.

[deviant88]

i need decent quality at ~50-70$ keyboard with at least 1 light color cause i cant see anything on my keyboard,also something that has that mechanical nice sound but its not very loud then id buy one right away currently there arent any in my country except the expensive ones 100$ ++ 

[ForsakenLive]

Will the Chinese government spy on me with them as well?

[Misanthrope]

Really? Fuck them: I am pretty sure it costs them 10 or 20 bucks to produce. They usually sell very cheap phones that still have good specs but they're doing the opposite here instead of taking their strong manufacturing position to really drive down prices and introduce something like the first 40 bucks mechanical keyboard something they could easily do.

[CtW]

I'm very much ok with a $32 mechanical keyboard so long as it does not come with any sort of spyware embedded in it or any software it uses.

[CtW]

Really? Fuck them: I am pretty sure it costs them 10 or 20 bucks to produce. They usually sell very cheap phones that still have good specs but they're doing the opposite here instead of taking their strong manufacturing position to really drive down prices and introduce something like the first 40 bucks mechanical keyboard something they could easily do.

RMB$199 = USD$32.05

[Deli]

Who/What is Cherry China? A knock-off company copies the design of Cherry MX switch? 

[snowComet]

Who/What is Cherry China? A knock-off company copies the design of Cherry MX switch?

No Knock off company, just Cherry's China Division...

[JAKEBAB]

Was it proven that Xiaomi themselves rigged their devices with keyloggers? I've heard stories going around that the retailers installed them.

OP: I wanna see how this will end. Could be interesting.

It wasn't ever keyloggers, i just said that because it's a keyboard. It was Xiomi having backdoors in there products and phoning home to chinese servers, afaik it's true since the American government banned there products for use in government agencies.

[bcredeur97]

$32 mechanical keyboard O_O
 

I would by this just to have a  mechanical back up

[TopWargamer]

It's going to be hard to pull me away from my Ducky Shine 2... 

Actually, nah, nothing can pull me away from my Shine 2. 

 

I am curious to see what Xiaomi will bring to the table though.