Xiaomi has announced that its smartphone will officially become available in the UK, and a number of other European countries. The company has announced that it partnered up with CK Hutchinson in order to bring its devices to Three Group Europe stores in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the UK. Having said that, Three UK, one of UK’s largest carriers, has confirmed that it will sell Xiaomi’s smartphones in the country, which will be a first for the UK.
Now, this announcement is important mainly because of the company’s smartphone portfolio, but it’s worth remembering that the company actually manufactures all sorts of gadgets, so it remains to be seen what else will become available in Europe as a result of this partnership. Xiaomi’s health-focused products will probably be sold in Hutchinson’s health and beauty subsidiary called ‘Superdrug’ in the UK and Ireland, while Watson’s Fortress and Kruidvat stores in the Netherlands and Hong Kong may do the same in their respective countries. Having said that, Xiaomi will be looking to expand its presence in Europe in the coming months / years, as the company officially arrived in Europe by launching its smartphones (and other products) in Spain a couple of months ago. This China-based company has been making a huge splash in India, where it managed to overthrow Samsung, and become the country’s number one smartphone manufacturer.
Xiaomi has managed to grow quite a bit YoY up to this point, and has enjoyed a great year thus far in terms of sales. Smartphone sales in China have been declining, but Xiaomi has been striving. The company had also confirmed that it has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong, and is expected to raise $10 billion at least, though the company could raise anywhere between $10 and $100 billion, really. It remains to be seen what will happen from this point on, but one thing is for sure, this will be an extremely important year for the company, and many things will change compared to 2017. The company is looking to expand its presence wherever it can, and continue growing in China and India, though it seems like Europe is the company’s first target when it comes to expanding, even though the US is also in their plans, but it remains to be seen if Xiaomi will opt to make that step following roadblocks that Huawei and ZTE experience recently.