MIVI has always made audio devices: earbuds, speakers, soundbars. Now, the Hyderabad-based brand announced its first smartphone this week, the MIVI One 5G, launching in India this September with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
That’s a big leap. MIVI built its name on audio since 2015. Smartphones are a tougher market: fiercer competition, thinner margins, higher technical demands. Still, MIVI isn’t starting from scratch, it already runs its own manufacturing in India, which gives it more control than most newcomers have.
What We Know So Far:
- Chipset: A Snapdragon processor, likely the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, based on a Geekbench leak. MIVI hasn’t confirmed the exact model.
- Price: Reportedly under ₹15,000, rare for a Snapdragon phone at that price.
- Retail: Flipkart exclusive.
- Design: Olive green finish, flat back, metal-look frame.
- Software: Stock Android, no bloatware.
Camera, battery, and display specs have still not been revealed. Reports hint at a September 26 launch.
Viswanadh Kandula and Midhula Devabhaktuni founded MIVI in 2015, after returning to India from the US. The name blends their own names: MI-dhula, VI-swanadh. They started with ₹3.5 crore in savings, selling cables and phone cases online before moving into audio.
In 2020, MIVI opened its own manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, becoming the first Indian audio brand to make its products domestically. It later became the first Indian brand certified by the Japan Audio Society for Hi-Res Audio, raised debt funding from N+1 Capital in 2022, and announced a ₹200 crore investment in a second Hyderabad plant in 2024.
Today, MIVI competes with boAt and Noise, selling mostly through its own site, Amazon, and Flipkart, built largely without celebrity endorsements.