Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has announced today that the company has sold 34.7 million smartphones worldwide in the first half (1H) of 2015. The company, though, refused to provide any further breakdown of the figure, but it is not difficult to assess that emboldening response received from the developing markets, such as India, helped it to maintain the pace.
For many, the sales figure in the first six months may look little intimidating as the company is little far from reaching the half-way mark of set target for 2015. Last year, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun estimated that the company would sell nearly 100 million smartphones worldwide in 2015.
After evaluating the first six months of sales performance, analysts at Dazeinfo believe that Xiaomi could easily beat the sales target. The company has ventured into Brazil and the sales of smartphones generally skyrocket during the festival season in the last quarter of every year. Xiaomi is yet to introduce its much-awaited big-screen smartphones Mi Note and Mi Note Pro in markets outside China. Considering these scenarios, it quite safe to estimate that Xiaomi may easily cross 90 million smartphone sales mark by the end of 2015.
“It’s one of the craziest days of my life,” Hugo Barra, Vice President – Xiaomi’s international business, said in an interview with CNET after the launch event in Brazil.
Xiaomi is slowly, but steadily, growing in the emerging markets; Brazil being the first country out of Xiaomi’s safest market Asia, will help the company to accelerate its growth. In the past, nearly 90 percent of Xiaomi’s smartphone are sold in China, followed by India where the company has successfully sold over 2 million devices within 12 months since the launch.
In the last few years, Xiaomi has received an unprecedented response from the market. The sales of smartphone grew by more than 300% between 2013 and 2014. Since January 2012, the company has sold 121.64 million smartphones, mostly belong to sub-$200 category. However, Xiaomi is not only focused on entry-level low-price smartphones any further. With the introduction of Mi4, Mi Note and Mi Note Pro company has started luring customers having deep pockets and spend a handsome amount on high-margined smartphones.
Due to splendid market performance Xiaomi is awarded as the most valuable startup of 2015, valuation clocking $45 billion.
Xiaomi likes to define itself as an internet company, instead of smartphone manufacturer. In 2012, the company employed Hugo Barra from Google to facelift in the internet market and go all out. Despite working on the razor-thin margin, Xiaomi made sure the built quality and performance must meet users expectations – if can’t beat.
Here is the recent interview of Hugo Barra, speaking about Xiaomi’s growth, Mi Note, challenges and future growth.
