Xiaomi is no longer a new name in high-tech circles. China's leading smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi has conquered the international market with its high-quality, low-cost models. Born over a decade ago, the brand even boasts of being the Apple of the Middle Kingdom. Its founder and CEO, Lei Jun, plans to steal the limelight from his American and Korean counterparts such as Apple, Huawei and Samsung.

Brand history

Xiaomi was founded in April 2010 by eight partners, including its CEO Lei Jun. At the time, the company was only developing applications for the Android system. The brand's first product was a car assistance application. It was only a few months later that the company decided to create a mobile operating system and its first cell phone. In August 2010, Lei Jun and his engineers unveiled MUI, a free distribution of the Android operating system.

International deployment

Until 2012, Xiaomi mainly targeted the Chinese market, but later the company would expand its business by setting up operations elsewhere. In the meantime, to strengthen his team, Lei Jun called on the skills of Brazilian computer scientist Hugo Barra, former head of Android at Google. Barra joined the Chinese company in August 2013.

In 2014, Xiaomi began its international expansion by setting up its first Singapore-based branch. The brand would go on to launch its famous Mipad on the local market a year later.

The Chinese giant has decided to continue its conquest of the international market by setting its sights elsewhere. And so, just two months after setting up shop in Singapore, Lei Jun's company has landed in the Philippines. To mark its arrival, it launches the Xiaomi Mi 3, a smartphone model that appeared in 2013 and is even considered the flagship of the Chinese firm.

Despite its enthusiasm for conquering the international market, the company will still face some difficulties in July 2014. The stumbling block lies in the processes involved in certifying the devices produced by the brand. The fact is that their issuance requires the approval of government bodies before they can be launched and sold on the market. In countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico, for example, this certification process can take several months. Despite this, Xiaomi has been able to maintain its confidence, and the brand will go on to achieve a significant market share in these countries.

The success story of the Chinese titan

In November 2014, Xiaomi created a buzz on social networks about its Mi App Store, which had just exceeded ten billion downloads. In fact, the latter achieves almost 50 million downloads a day, generating a sizeable gain for the brand. Revenues are estimated at nearly 364 million yuan, equivalent to around $60 million. To mark this success, Lei Jun's company decided to surprise its fans by launching the international Mi App Store. While this application store was previously reserved exclusively for Chinese users, it is now accessible in territories where the firm has established a presence.

December 2014 marks another turning point in Xiaomi's history, as the firm receives certification for one of its flagship models, the Redmi Note, in Brazil. This smartphone can finally be marketed in this country. Hugo Barra, Lei Jun's new right-hand man, later unofficially announces the creation of the Chinese giant's offices in Brazil. Confirmation of the firm's official presence there would not come until February 2015. It is also in this month that Xiaomi announces the availability of its Facebook page for local customers.

Its secrets: qualified staff and a targeted marketing strategy

The company offers innovative, high-quality products that are more accessible to the public. Behind this feat were experienced engineers and designers from Microsoft, Google and Motorola. Their challenge was to develop smartphones that would match the performance of their competitors, Apple and Motorola. Thus, in September 2011, the brand unveiled its first Smartphone and achieved the feat of selling 300,000 units in the space of 34 hours. This more-than-positive result is the fruit of hard work carried out jointly by the Chinese giant's designers and marketing team. The sales techniques used were mainly focused on flash sales and targeting potential customers.

Xiaomi isn't just about smartphones!

Best known for the quality and affordability of its products, Xiaomi is not just known for its smartphones. In fact, this Chinese manufacturer is also active in the production of other technological gadgets. These include connected objects such as toothbrushes, bracelets, bikes, wearables and more. The company goes even further, developing applications on its smartphones to make life easier for its users. The Mi Store, for example, lets you control various applications, including those for devices in a connected home.

The Chinese market leader arrives in France

Xiaomi made its entry into France in May 2018, opening its first store in the French capital. The Chinese manufacturer's various smartphone ranges are of course sold there. The items sold there differ from those offered on the Chinese or Asian market. However, some of the brand's bestsellers can be found here. These include connected audio speakers, connected batteries, the famous Xiaomi electric scooter and the Mi electric Scooter.

Xiaomi: key information

Workforce

As of June 30, 2022, the company had 32,869 employees, of whom 30,110 are in China and the rest in Indonesia and India.

Sales figures

Over the years, Xiaomi's sales have had their ups and downs. Here's a rundown of notable achievements:

2014: nearly 74 billion yuan (before tax), or around 9.98 billion euros in sales. With over 60 million models sold, it was a memorable year for the brand.

2015: this year was rather less fruitful for the company, with sales stagnating. Although a slight increase of 5% was recorded, this figure will fall to 3% following the devaluation of the Chinese currency.

2016: Xiaomi's Indian subsidiary reports sales of one billion dollars. A rather positive result for the brand, given its recent presence in the country.

2017: Xiaomi achieves sales of €13 billion, with around 70 million smartphones sold. In just 10 months, it has reached its annual target. Satisfied with this result, the brand revises its sales targets upwards and launches the fifth-generation Redmi.

In 2018, sales reached 79.65 billion euros

Initial public offering

Xiaomi goes public on July 8, 2018 after posting colossal losses amounting to $1.1 billion in the first quarter. The company, which was counting on a valuation of $100 billion, will experience a succession of down sessions to the point of losing up to 17% of its value. The purpose of raising this sum was to materialize the company's ambitions to continue its deployment in the European market.

Business and strategic objectives

The Chinese company's strategy is initially based on cost control. This means lowering prices to stay ahead of the competition. This approach enabled them to gather 7,000 "Mi fans" during the release of the Mi8 smartphone. The latter is comparable to Apple's iPhone X, except that its price is three times lower.

Controlling profit margins: a 5% threshold is set for each aircraft sale in 2018.

Although smartphones account for 70% of sales, the Chinese giant makes its biggest profits from Internet services, such as advertising and application sales. Analysts at Bernstein explained that 60% of the company's gross margin comes from services, while only 9% comes from hardware.

Scalability

The Chinese company can only be proud of its achievements. In the space of just eight years, Xiaomi has managed to position itself as the world's 4th largest smartphone manufacturer. Between 2017 and 2018, it sold around 34.3 million Smartphones and held a 9.7% share of the global market. While sales volumes are down, it achieves +2.2% growth.

CEO quote

"Our mission is to make incredible products at fair prices," says founder and billionaire Lei Jun.