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Mint
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Xiaomi X Pro QLED TV: An affordable option with all the bells and whistles
Shouvik Das In a market dominated by premium brands, Xiaomi's 2025 X Pro Qled television offers great features like 'Filmmaker Mode' at a fraction of the cost. But is it a good buy, overall? The 65-inch variant of Xiaomi X Pro QLED TV Gift this article In 2018, Xiaomi brought its range of smart televisions to India. In due course, it had a similar effect as the company had on the smartphone market—bringing in features at lower prices than ever seen before. Fast forward to 2025, and the Xiaomi X Pro Qled television has nearly pulled off what was once typical to this brand—the experience of flagship products at a fraction of the price. In 2018, Xiaomi brought its range of smart televisions to India. In due course, it had a similar effect as the company had on the smartphone market—bringing in features at lower prices than ever seen before. Fast forward to 2025, and the Xiaomi X Pro Qled television has nearly pulled off what was once typical to this brand—the experience of flagship products at a fraction of the price. Case in point: earlier this year, Japanese giant Sony introduced a picture mode called 'Studio Calibrated' on its flagship line of Bravia televisions. The rationale was to offer buyers of some of the most premium televisions in the market a picture mode that replicated colour and related settings that a movie director shot a piece of content in. It was one of the ways through which Sony sought to differentiate its offering—televisions, after all, is an increasingly commoditized market today. The 2025 edition of the Xiaomi X Pro Qled television, interestingly, has almost pulled off a similar feat—with a dedicated 'Filmmaker Mode' in the TV. Before a qualitative analysis of it, a more important factor to note is the price at which Xiaomi has rolled out this feature. The Sony Bravia 3, which offers this feature albeit with an 'Oled' display panel, is priced at ₹ 1.65 lakh for the 65-inch variant. Samsung, Sony's Korean rival and India's biggest television seller by volume at the end of last year, made the 'Qled' technology mainstream. Today, a 65-inch Samsung Qled television starts at ₹ 88,000—about half the price of Sony's. Xiaomi, with its 65-inch X Pro Qled, charges users ₹ 64,000—nearly one-third lesser than Samsung, and at two-fifth that of Sony. Also read: An 11th grader brings technology to canine care Purely from a cost standpoint, the Xiaomi X Pro Qled television stands out for having delivered on the transition that India's television market is going through. Driven by easy financing availability and rising credit, buyers are increasingly looking for larger or more premium televisions. For Xiaomi, third in the market behind Samsung and LG, this could be a major pitch to rope more customers back into its ecosystem. Balance of performance While the cost advantage is a good thing, the performance factor cannot be ignored. On this note, the Xiaomi X Pro Qled ticks the basic checkboxes at the onset—a reasonably slim build, the typical Google TV interface coupled with a custom layer of content recommendations, and ample picture settings to tweak around. The panel itself delivers stable picture quality—no obvious quirks or imbalances. The backlight is amply bright, which means that the television will produce legible visuals even in very bright living room environments. While brightness is the typical factor of strength for Qled televisions, it also does reasonably well in dim environments, without creating very noisy shadows or pixelated scenes in movies that have predominantly dark scenes. There is also no interpolation that's apparent in about one month's usage—showing that fundamentally, the picture panel used by Xiaomi is reliable and adequate for a 65-inch, 4K television. The 65-inch variant in use here also uses a relatively new technology called 'Dual Line Gate' (DLG)—using which televisions can upscale the refresh rate of the display panel. Think of this as how smooth a television can be in showcasing fast-moving scenes—a factor that typically comes into play for gamers who would hook up their Xbox, Switch or PlayStation gaming consoles to the television. For them, the Xiaomi X Pro 65-inch Qled Google TV attempts to produce visuals akin to more expensive televisions that use a native 120Hz refresh rate display. The result is almost in line with flagships, but sampled on an Xbox Series S, the refresh rate delivery was not at a constant 120Hz. That said, for most casual gamers, the difference is unlikely to make a major dent. All said and done, it is the 'Filmmaker mode' that stands out here. Xiaomi allows viewers to switch to this mode to give a true-to-source representation of the cinema on the screen. The result, truth be told, is impressive for a television that costs a fraction of the market average. Xiaomi even allows users to tweak the settings in this mode—a good factor, which would allow users to use this mode as a template, and then tweak the picture settings to their preference. While the picture quality of the Xiaomi X Pro Qled's 2025 edition is recommendable, the native audio quality, despite the use of 34-watt in-TV speakers along with Dolby Atmos support, is a touch underwhelming. The absence of bass, which is common in non-flagship televisions, is evident—a factor that won't go unnoticed. Also apparent is the design of the television—while there are no discrepancies, the distinctly premium brushed-metal finish on Samsung and Sony's televisions are missing on the Xiaomi X Pro Qled. It isn't something that would get in the way of the picture quality, but is something to be noticed nonetheless. Still a good pick All said, there is no denying that purely based on the picture quality on offer in return of the price, the Xiaomi X Pro Qled 65-inch, 2025 edition TV is a worth purchase for those looking for a larger-than-average television but within a limited budget. Xiaomi has ensured that all essentials are delivered upon—even the audio quality is not underwhelming, even though not as wholesome as it could have been. Simply for this, it would be difficult to find a television that is more value for money than this one, especially with a 65-inch screen in tow. Unscrambling the jargon Qled: Quantum light emitting diode, the fundamental technology that uses ultra-bright dots on the display, in place of Organic light emitting diode (Oled)—which uses ultra-dimming dots. Refresh rate: The number of times a TV's panel flickers, measured in hertz (Hz). The higher the number, the smoother is the display—and typically, the more expensive is a TV. Backlight: A panel of light behind the main screen. The best TVs have backlights that can be both very bright and super dim—and would thus be suitable for most scenes. Dolby Atmos: A proprietary surround sound technology. In good speakers, presence of Dolby Atmos signifies superlative stereo and directional audio delivery. Also read: Memes are changing how we talk IRL Topics You May Be Interested In
Mint
5 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Questions raised as HAL outbids Adani Defence, Bharat Dynamics in Isro's SSLV ‘privatisation' attempt
Next Story Business News/ Companies / Questions raised as HAL outbids Adani Defence, Bharat Dynamics in Isro's SSLV 'privatisation' attempt Shouvik Das State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, Adani Defence Systems's subsidiary, and Bharat Dynamics were the finalists among six shortlisted bidders for Isro's ₹ 511-crore small rocket contract. The contract will see HAL take full ownership of the small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) that Isro built and first launched in August 2022. (PTI) Gift this article New Delhi: Almost three years since its first demonstrator mission launch, a ₹ 511-crore contract to privatize Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) was awarded toHindustan Aeronautics Ltd by the government's nodal space agency on Friday. New Delhi: Almost three years since its first demonstrator mission launch, a ₹ 511-crore contract to privatize Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) was awarded toHindustan Aeronautics Ltd by the government's nodal space agency on Friday. However, considering that HAL is a public sector undertaking overseen by the defence ministry, analysts, observers and proxy advisory firms are questioning whether the award truly qualifies as 'privatization' of the government-built rocket. The contract will see HAL take full ownership of the rocket that Isro built and first launched in August 2022. Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-Space), said the project is 'not just a manufacturing contract—HAL will do end-to-end manufacturing, supply chain procurement, winning orders from clients, (and ) launching and maintaining the rocket in the long run". Isro will handhold HAL through the making and validation of the small rocket for two years. Beyond this period, Goenka said HAL can onboard Isro as an advisor on a commercial contract basis. As of 20 June, the Union government holds a 71% stake in HAL. 'The bid from HAL was carefully selected by In-Space, Isro, and NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) through two bidding rounds. The first round saw the participation of nine companies, from which six were shortlisted. In the second round, three of the bidders dropped out, leaving HAL, and two consortiums—led by Alpha Design Technologies and Bharat Dynamics—as the finalists," Goenka said. Alpha Design is owned by Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Ltd. Neither HAL, NSIL or In-Space disclosed the cost of making the small rockets. Radhakrishnan Durairaj, chairman and managing director of NSIL, which is Isro's commercial space operations division, said the information 'would allude to SSLV's competitiveness on a global scale" and thus could not be disclosed. Industry stakeholders said the decision may not bode well for Isro's privatisation in the long run. Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern Research, said the move is 'strange, seeing that the contract was delivered to HAL without validating the firm's capability of delivering space projects as per timelines". Also read | How ISRO's 100th mission reflects its original startup spirit One hand to the other HAL, in partnership with Larsen and Toubro Ltd, was previously awarded an ₹ 860-crore contract to manufacture five units of Isro's larger rocket variant—the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)—in September 2022. The initial timeline to deliver the first of the five PSLVs was two years. 'We are on track with the engineering efforts, and results from the PSLV contract will be seen very soon," said Barenya Senapati, director of finance at HAL, fielding questions on the company's space contract execution capability during Friday's announcement. 'Our air force engineering division is separate from our new space business, so the two work very differently and are not interconnected," Senapati said, without disclosing when the first PSLV will be delivered. The SSLV award may compound pressure on HAL at a time when the public sector undertaking has been in the firing line of the Indian Air Force itself in terms of its failure to deliver its contract of indigenous 'Tejas' combat aircrafts. 'In a way, this is a good thing for the other private startups," said Narayan Prasad Nagendra, space industry consultant and chief operating officer of Dutch space supply chain firm, Satsearch. 'HAL's contract is essentially a representation of a government contract shifting funds from one hand to another without specifically achieving anything. If at all, given HAL's current track record in space, this will make way for private startups such as Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos to win more clients and take a market lead," he added. Also read | Space tourism: Can Isro beat Blue Origin? On the flipside, others said the move may have come out of necessity. Chaitanya Giri, space fellow at global think-tank Observer Research Foundation, said that 'since the other two final bids for the SSLV were through consortia, In-Space and Isro were really left with only one choice to execute a clean, simple contract for the SSLV". However, Giri added that 'the move to award the contract to HAL cannot strictly be called privatization—it is better to be referred to as commercialization by bringing a legacy Indian industry name into the nascent field". 'It also shows that the Indian government is not yet fully confident in India's private space firms, which could be another reason behind HAL winning the small rocket contract," Giri added. In-Space's Goenka, however, said HAL winning the contract 'was not a subjective decision". 'HAL was the highest bidder, and also cleared In-Space and Isro's technical evaluation process in terms of its capability under all parameters, thereby emerging with the contract as per the official process," he said. Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Mint
17-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Sarvam, India's most-funded gen-AI startup, takes to the Big Tech playbook
Shouvik Das Amid government subsidies, Sarvam will focus on a full-stack AI approach to take its business to clients; more announcements are expected from the startup in the coming weeks. A person passes a billboard for an Artificial Intelligence company advertising AI employees on a London underground station platform in London, Britain, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe Gift this article Bengaluru: On 26 April, IIT Madras-incubated artificial intelligence startup, Sarvam, became the first to receive subsidized access to processing chips from the Union government to build Indian AI models. Now, after facing conjecture and criticism over government support and the startup's innovation route, its founder and investors believe that the way forward for India's most well-funded AI startup is to take a leaf out of the Big Tech playbook. Bengaluru: On 26 April, IIT Madras-incubated artificial intelligence startup, Sarvam, became the first to receive subsidized access to processing chips from the Union government to build Indian AI models. Now, after facing conjecture and criticism over government support and the startup's innovation route, its founder and investors believe that the way forward for India's most well-funded AI startup is to take a leaf out of the Big Tech playbook. 'We're not just a model builder," Pratyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam, told Mint on the sidelines of a gathering in Bengaluru last week. 'We have an application layer too, and we want to be focused on both (the model and the layer)." The startup has faced criticism after it last month released its AI model—Sarvam-M. While some hailed the 24-billion-parameter model for its native support for 10 Indian languages, others criticised it for not being a foundational model, but being based on a foundational model made by a French AI startup, Mistral. Also Read: How tech is transforming the Indian car market Kumar and his investors, however, do not believe that the criticism has been fair. 'It's hard to quantify how much of our efforts we are devoting to foundational models versus building applications—the models will be key because this will give us the foundational capability. The government funding is just incidental, but it will not define the way forward for Sarvam. Eventually, we're building a full-stack, deep-tech firm out of India," he said. To be sure, a foundational model is an algorithm built by a company from scratch, using its own data and AI infrastructure. Doing so requires significantly high amounts of capital—US Big Tech firms are currently spending billions on them—but also gives companies the advantage of having proprietary technology without being reliant on anyone else. Monetising tech An application layer, meanwhile, is key to ensuring that the models can be implemented within businesses, thus earning ventures commercial revenue. While this is secondary, it is key to monetisation. Big Tech firms, such as Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, are making what Kumar cited above as 'full-stack" services—having their own models and applications to sell to enterprises. It is this that Kumar highlighted as Sarvam's key area of focus, and not its government backing for subsidised access to processing chips—which account for most of an AI firm's operating expenditure. 'The government's Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) grant helps, but it is only an episode for us. This is not what will fully define our way forward. We're continuing to build and innovate in various sectors of AI, which will create value by leveraging the support that the government has extended. We're building applications for Indian clients, and not just models or applications to sell abroad," Kumar said. Among its peers, investors and industry experts believe that Sarvam has a clear headstart. While Olacabs founder Bhavish Aggarwal's AI pivot, Krutrim, claimed to have become 'India's first AI unicorn" in January last year, the venture doesn't have much to show yet. 'Sarvam always had an aspiration of building population-scale AI. The goal is to scale up AI innovation to the entire Indian population, not to have the largest foundation model," said Harshjit Sethi, managing director at venture capital firm Peak XV. Peak XV led Sarvam's seed funding round, and also co-led the startup's $41-million series-A funding round in December 2023. The venture has raised $53 million in total funding so far, though Kumar said that it will 'definitely need a larger funding round" in the coming months. Also Read: Eye in the sky: India to set up satellites to spy on satellites Peak XV's Sethi underlined that the criticisms of Sarvam may not be accurate. 'Sarvam is already working with some of the largest Indian companies, and has already reached tens of millions of individuals who have used Sarvam's AI applications and models. The goal is bearing fruit, and we're seeing their impact already." Use of funds As a result, both Kumar and Sethi said that the public expectation that Sarvam is only building a 'sovereign' AI model for public utilities and government applications is misplaced. 'The government grant comes from public taxpayers' money, but the one thing to clarify is that this is not a grant, the Centre is making an investment in the company in exchange for a minority equity stake. As a shareholder, the return to the taxpayer will come from the appreciation of this equity stake, in addition to the strategic imperative that we, as India, should have our own AI models from scratch," Sethi said. Kashyap Kompella, author and AI consultant to large corporations, concurred. 'The entire criticism that Sarvam has faced is that it has the government's backing from public taxpayers' money, but its mission statement is not narrowly focused on building only India's sovereign AI. That comes across as unfair criticism because innovation cannot be restricted only to one area. Entities like Sarvam must therefore focus on gaps in the ecosystem that are not addressed by competitors such as Big Tech firms," he said. Also Read: Apple quietly opens AI gates to developers at WWDC 2025 To be sure, FY25 was the first full fiscal year for Sarvam as a commercial entity earning early-stage revenue from clients. The company is yet to file its financials for the previous fiscal. For now, Sethi said the startup is likely to make more product announcements 'in the coming weeks." 'There are no specific verticals that we're focusing on, and we're looking at technology and services quite horizontally, just like Big Tech ventures. Eventually, we'll work with partners in sectors to build domain-specific capabilities in AI applications and services," Kumar added. Topics You May Be Interested In
