Xiaomi, arguably one of the most interesting and most popular smartphone companies in China, still hasn’t made any public plans about coming to the US. Currently, Xiaomi operates in a number of Asian countries, which includes India, Indonesia, Singapore and of course China. They also are available in a few other countries around the world, but as far as the US goes, Xiaomi is still mostly off-limits. And according to multiple executives at Xiaomi, that isn’t changing in 2017.
Last week, the company took the wraps off of the Mi 6 smartphone, which is a stunning smartphone with some pretty impressive specs and even more impressive price point. Coming in with 6GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of storage, a 3350mAh battery and a 5.15-inch 1080p display, all of which is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. Making the Xiaomi Mi 6 the first smartphone in China with the Snapdragon 835 inside. But for many potential customers, it’s a smartphone that they won’t even take a second look at, since it won’t be available in their region.
Engadget spoke with Wang Xiang, who is a senior vice president at Xiaomi, and while they don’t have plans for the US yet, they are definitely looking. While we were in Beijing, we spoke with Donovan Sung who is the director of product management at Xiaomi, and he reiterated the same message. However, while Xiaomi isn’t ready to announce that they are entering the US market anytime soon, they are testing their devices in the US. Like the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 that was announced last fall. That device has just about every 4G LTE band in the world on one device, and it’s one that their team has been testing in the US and is basically the guinea pig for getting their devices certified on networks in the US. So Xiaomi isn’t just sitting back and waiting for the perfect time, but they are sitting back and making sure all of their ducks are in a row.
It’s also worth mentioning that Xiaomi is already in the US, in some capacity. There are a number of their accessories sold in the US through their MI.com e-commerce store. These include things like portable batteries, lamps, headphones and even the Mi Box which is an Android TV set-top box capable of 4K. Smartphones and tablets will come at some point, but Xiaomi is still being tight-lipped about that, and for good reason.