Xiaomi is planning to host an event in the US on December 8, and the event will take place in New York. This information was shared by Aaron Yang, Xiaomi’s Operational Project Manager for the North American region. He said that interested users will have a chance to experience Xiaomi products during this event, and also meet the team behind these products. He shared this information via Reddit, while he also included a link to a registration form. Via that link, you can apply to become of the users that will get a chance to participate, though applying does not guarantee you will be selected, of course. Mr. Yang referred to this event as Xiaomi’s “biggest US party yet”. In order to apply, you need to be from the US, Xiaomi did hint that, though that’s understandable. Xiaomi did not exactly share the exact time or the location of this event just yet, but at least we know the date when it’s taking place.
Now, this event could actually mark the arrival of at least some of Xiaomi’s smartphones to the US, but as we do not have any specific info just yet, that’s still up in the air. Xiaomi is selling a number of its products in the US, but no smartphones. US users can purchase the Mi Box S, Mi Home Security Camera, Mi Electric Scooter, and the Mi Power Bank in the states. The company has been expanding its reach in Europe, as Xiaomi has opened up a number of Mi Stores across the continent, so it may be time to do the same in the US. Following this Reddit post, a number of users have jumped at the chance to assume Xiaomi’s smartphones are coming to the US, and a ton of questions followed, but Xiaomi did not confirm anything just yet, so we’ll just have to wait and see what will happen.
Background: Consumers are expecting Xiaomi to properly penetrate the US market for a long time now, but that has not happened yet. The company said, on a number of occasions, that they’re taking things slow, in order to do it right, and avoid any landmines on the way. It seems like Xiaomi learned something from LeEco’s and Huawei’s examples when it comes to the US, even though the two companies had vastly different experiences, neither was positive. LeEco’s arrival to the US and general business did not reflect well to the company, as the company lost quite a bit of money along the way, and on top of all that, had some other financial issues, which, in the end, basically ruined them. Huawei tried to make a more significant presence in the US, but fears over Chinese government spying, along with all the other problems, basically stopped the company from achieving its goal, at least for now.
Xiaomi, needless to say, is one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers. The company had already sold 100 million smartphones this year, and it remains to be seen how many will it sell by the end of this year. To put things into perspective, the company’s Redmi 5A budget phone along sold in over 10 million units in India, in only nine months. Xiaomi also sold over 2 million smartphones in less than 2.5 days during its online shopping festival on Amazon India, so it’s not that surprising that Xiaomi is more or less leading the pack in India, as far as smartphone manufacturers are concerned, at least. To make things even more obvious, it’s worth noting that 10 best-selling smartphones on Amazon India during the Great Indian Festival sale were Xiaomi-branded smartphones.
India is one of the most important markets for Xiaomi at the moment, along with its homeland, but the company is slowly, but surely, climbing the ranks in Europe as well. The company had opened up quite a few Mi Stores in Europe this year, including ones in Italy, France, and Spain, while new ones keep on popping up. Xiaomi’s first UK smartphone launch is happening today, as well, as the company is looking to penetrate the UK market as well, on its way to the States, and quite probably Canada. Xiaomi had introduced several flagship-grade devices this year, including the Xiaomi Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro, Mi 8 Explorer Edition, and the Mi MIX 3. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is the company’s most futuristic smartphone, without a doubt, as not only does it sport one of the highest screen-to-body ratios out there, but it also comes with a sliding camera mechanism. The Mi MIX 3 sports a premium build as well, as it is made out of metal and ceramic, not to mention that it comes with top-of-the-line specifications, including the Snapdragon 845, 6GB / 8GB of RAM, and so on.
Impact: The company’s December 8 event could mark the arrival of the company’s smartphone to the US, but it could also just be a show-and-tell type of an event, where consumers will get a chance to test out the company’s products, before Xiaomi makes an actual announcement regarding its smartphones. Everything is up in the air at this point, as the company did not really share that much info regarding its event, and this announcement came via Twitter. If Xiaomi plans to announce the arrival of its smartphones to the US, chances are it will make a proper announcement via social media, and actually invite media from all over the place to attend the event. December 8 is a month away still, so such an announcement could happen still, as the company’s smartphones are what the US consumers are waiting for, that’s for sure. The US consumers can import Xiaomi’s phones, but for almost all of them there is one significant problem, compatibility for 4G LTE networks, not to mention that consumers have to go through the process of importing a smartphone. Xiaomi will hopefully share some info regarding its US-based Mi Stores in the near future as well, if not at the said event, then hopefully in early 2019. The first Mi Store in the states will surely get the ball rolling, and many more will follow after that, but it seems like the company is trying to get a better feel of what the market wants, and what users are interested in, and the upcoming event could shed more light on all that.