Xiaomi is definitely the most talked-about Chinese smartphone manufacturer lately. Xiaomi is China’s number one smartphone vendor and it was recently reported that the company has reached 3rd place on a global scale. Xiaomi isn’t a public company though, so we can’t say anything with utmost certainty, for example, how much money is this Chinese company making. Wall Street Journal was able to get ahold of some confidential documents though, which reveal that this company is truly a behemoth in making. According to a report, this Chinese manufacturer recorded a 27 billion Yuan ($4.4 billion) in revenue last year and ended up with a profit of 3.46 billion Yuan ($566 million). Those are some really… serious numbers. Xiaomi also said it sold 18 million smartphones in 2013, most of which were sold in China though, but Xiaomi is opening up and is making its way to other markets as well. This company manufactures all kinds of other stuff though, like tablets, fitness bands, smart TVs, etc.
Xiaomi is planning to sell 60 million smartphones in 2014 and it seems like they will hit that number with ease considering the company has sold 44 units by the end of Q3. Holidays are coming and they will sell an additional 16 billion handsets without a problem it seems. Regarding the non-public nature of the company, Xiaomi’s executives said that the company doesn’t plan to go public for the next five years. Xiaomi is actually looking to raise some cash, you might wonder why that is considering their significant profit, well, probably because so that it can purchase or make more video content, which might sound weird. On November 4th, the company actually posted a message on its official Weibo page that it’s looking to invest $1 billion in online video. It seems like Xiaomi’s ambitions go way beyond smartphones, tablets and smart TVs.
You might also know that Xiaomi develops its own Android-based OS, MIUI. This OS makes it possible for Xiaomi to put Google’s services aside (even though they’re available) and push its own paid themes and games via the Mi Store. This is also a place where Xiaomi earns tons of cash actually. One more interesting thing about this company is that its press events look a lot like Apple’s. Xiaomi is open to public and recaps its live blogs on its website. You might have also heard of Xiaomi’s “Flash Sales”. Xiaomi has definitely popularized that term considering it sells tons of smartphones at once, mainly in India via Flipkart. This company is capable of selling dozens of thousands of smartphones in seconds this way, considering their build quality and low prices this is very much possible. Xiaomi also rids itself of any stacked up inventory, so that the company can produce more handsets without them sitting too long in warehouses.
World’s major manufacturers should be ready for Xiaomi, because if the company manages to keep this pace, it will soon be world’s number 1 OEM. Xiaomi plans to expand to South America and Russia soon and that would open up 2 huge markets for the company. It will be interesting to watch Xiaomi’s progress in the next year and see if the company can meet its expectations considering that they plan to significantly increase the amount of sold units in 2015.