Xiaomi has pulled off a very Xiaomi move with its first network-attached storage box: the NAS is priced so aggressively that, in the 4 TB version, the bundled drives are effectively worth as much as the device itself. For buyers, that turns a boring storage appliance into a surprisingly sharp deal – at least on paper.
The 4 TB model costs 2299 yuan, or $338, and comes with two 2 TB Western Digital Red Plus hard drives already installed. At current market pricing, one of those drives is said to cost about 1159 yuan, which puts the pair at roughly 2300 yuan, essentially matching the NAS package price. In other words, the enclosure, hardware, and software are being thrown in for free, which is a neat trick if you’re Xiaomi and mildly annoying if you’re a storage brand trying to sell components at full retail.
Xiaomi NAS pricing for 8 TB and 16 TB models
The larger 8 TB and 16 TB variants follow the same formula, also using preinstalled Western Digital Red drives. In those configurations, buying the drives separately would cost even more than the full NAS system, which makes Xiaomi’s pricing look less like a discount and more like an opening salvo aimed at home users who have been putting off proper network storage because the category is usually overpriced.
The price advantage appears to widen as capacity increases:
- 4 TB model: 2299 yuan ($338)
- 8 TB model: priced below the value of the included drives
- 16 TB model: priced below the value of the included drives by an even wider margin
That kind of launch pricing is a classic hardware play: subsidize the first wave, get attention, then let scale and accessory sales do the rest. Xiaomi is also leaning on a familiar pattern in its broader business – undercut the category leader, win volume fast, and let competitors complain into the void.
Xiaomi Mall demand hit millions in minutes
The market reaction was immediate. Xiaomi said funding on Xiaomi Mall passed 7 million yuan, or about $1 million, in 3 minutes, then climbed past 13 million yuan, or about $1.9 million, by 10:15 a.m. Beijing time. That is the kind of launch pace most hardware teams would happily frame and hang on the wall.
The real question is whether Xiaomi can keep this pricing intact once the early rush is over. NAS boxes are a notoriously dull category until something breaks, the disks fill up, or the monthly cloud bill starts looking rude – which is exactly when a cheap local-storage alternative starts to look smart.