On 9 March 2016, Xiaomi launched its Redmi Note 3 in India. It was a groundbreaking smartphone at the time in the budget segment and was well received by Indian customers. It made record sales on the year, and Xiaomi brand name continued to grow.
Early phones were only available through a system whereby customers had to sign up for an invite to purchase the phone at irregular intervals. The system was claimed to be necessary for the young company to manage huge demand. OnePlus ended the invite system with the launch of OnePlus 3 on 14 June 2016. Announced via an interactive VR launch event, the OnePlus 3 initially went on sale within the VR app itself. OnePlus touted the event as the world's first VR shopping experience. The phone was made available for sale later that day in China, North America, and the European Union on the OnePlus website, and in India on Amazon India.
On 12 July 2016, bowing to two weeks of rising pressure in China, IKEA announced that it was extending this recall to that country, which - along with Europe - was initially excluded from the recall. Over 29 million dressers have been recalled. IKEA has settled wrongful death lawsuits for over $50 million in compensation to the families of the three children who were killed.
Didi Chuxing (formerly Didi Kuaidi), the dominant player in China's ridesharing market, agrees to buy Uber China, Uber's business in China. The Uber brand will be retained, but Didi would “integrate the managerial and technological experience and expertise of the two teams.” Uber reportedly lost $2 billion trying to make inroads in China.
On 3 August 2016, Oppo launched the F1s in India. The Oppo F1s is a selfie-centric phone which succeeds in the Oppo F1. The F1s sports a 13 MP primary camera at the back and has a 16 MP secondary camera on the front. There is a fingerprint scanner housed on the home button which can not only be used to unlock the phone but, open apps as well. The Oppo F1s is powered by MediaTek's MT6750 octa-core processor which is coupled with 3 GB RAM and Mali-T860 MP2 GPU. It runs on ColorOS 3.0 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and features a 5.5-inch HD IPS display which is backed by 3075 mAh battery.