case study of xiaomi

How Xiaomi Became Successful In India [Xiaomi Case Study]

Devashish Shrivastava

Xiaomi Corporation is a Chinese gadget manufacturer established by Lei Jun in 2010 and headquartered in Beijing. Xiaomi makes and puts resources into cell phones, versatile applications, trimmers, headphones, television, and numerous other products. Ranked 468th, Xiaomi was the most youthful organization on Fortune Global 500 List of 2019.

Xiaomi launched its first cell phone in August 2011 and quickly picked up a piece of the overall industry in China. It became China's biggest cell phone organization in 2014. At the beginning of the second quarter of 2018, Xiaomi was the world's fourth-biggest cell phone manufacturer. Xiaomi later built up a more extensive scope of hardware catalog, including a brilliant home (IoT) gadget ecosystem.

Xiaomi has 15,000 employees in China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore; it is now expanding to different nations like Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Africa. According to Forbes magazine, Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi, has more than $12.5 billion in assets.

Lei Jun is China's eleventh most extravagant individual and 118th in the world. Xiaomi is the world's fourth most important innovative startup in the wake of getting $1.1 billion subsidizing from financial specialists, pegging Xiaomi's valuation at more than $46 billion.

History Of Xiaomi Corporation Business Strategy Of Xiaomi Corporation How Does Xiaomi Prosper And Increase Its Revenue? Business Growth Of Xiaomi Corporation Future Plans Of Xiaomi FAQs

History Of Xiaomi Corporation

Xiaomi was founded in April 2010 by Lei Jun . MIUI, the ROM made by Xiaomi , turned into an immense achievement and has been ported to numerous gadgets. Since 2014, MIUI can be downloaded and installed in more than 200 gadgets in both English and Chinese. By the end of 2013, Xiaomi had more than 30 million MIUI clients around the world, an impressive figure for a youthful organization.

The MIUI ROM isn't as user-friendly as Apple's iOS and gives modern administrations, for example, cloud reinforcement, simple to utilize music player, and an application store. The group at Xiaomi joyfully takes on fan criticism using numerous channels and updates the ROM regularly with bug fixes, improvement, and extra highlights.

In 2011, Xiaomi launched the Mi One phone. Xiaomi just doesn't make its own product, but it fabricates its own equipment. The Mi One was a top-spec phone with signigicant features.

While commentators rush to call the Beijing-based organization "The Apple of China", Xiaomi likes to contrast itself with Amazon. Xiaomi makes ground-breaking equipment which it sells and depends on administration and substance to make up a greater part of its income.

Xiaomi's income in 2013 alone was over $5 billion, very noteworthy for a young organization. There are comparisons between Xiaomi and Apple as both are equipment and programming organizations, both have solid power over stock-chains, and both have a hot fanbase.

Aside from this, the two organizations don't share anything else practically. Apple prices its phones at unbelievable costs and doesn't take on a lot of client input, whereas Xiaomi is polar opposite.

Xiaomi dispatched 7.2 million phones in 2012 and 18.7 million phones in 2013. It even sold more than Apple in one quarter. In the principal quarter of 2014, Xiaomi sold over 11 million phones, more than what it sold throughout 2012.

The demand for Xiaomi keeps increasing because of the good-of its gadgets and the economical price at which its products are sold in universal markets, for example, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore .

Hugo Barra (ex-Google android official) has been tasked with the job of overseeing Xiaomi's expansion beyond China. Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and India will see Xiaomi phones straightaway.

Business Strategy Of Xiaomi Corporation

Xiaomi had some wonderful achievements in its third entire year as a device creator. The Company is on course to sell 60 million phones this year, and it has ensured footed (if rather moderate) strides into various markets in Asia, for example, Indonesia and India. The organization's development is amazing given the the variety in its product catalog aside from phones.

An ongoing social marking report on Xiaomi by Resonance China dissects an enormous assortment of the startup's procedures and shows how pleasantly they are working out.

The business strategies are described below:

Xiaomi - A Web-Based Business Organization

Business visionary and Xiaomi prime supporter Lei Jun states Xiaomi as a web-based business organization—one of the numerous reasons he loathes the successive examinations among Xiaomi and Apple. They feel a comparison with Amazon is more relevant. Xiaomi has its e-store and has a customer-facing facade on Alibaba's Tmall. The numbers back up Lei Jun's case.

Xiaomi's site is the third biggest business-to-customer (B2C) internet business store in China in terms of deals volume (behind Tmall and nearest rival JD). On China's Singles Day on November 11, a business bonanza saw $9.3 billion spent on Tmall; and Xiaomi was the top brand on Alibaba's commercial center that day.

Xiaomi sold 1.2 million telephones during the 24-hour deals occasion, piling on, alongside offers of some different devices, RMB 1.56 billion ($254 million) in items sold.

Xiaomi by and large sells its gadgets in constrained glimmer deals, ordinarily in clusters of around 50,000 to 100,000 in China and bigger sums abroad. Thus, Xiaomi fabricates only what is certain to sell.

The upstart organization's attempt to close the deal doesn't stop once somebody has purchased a phone. New clients find that their phone includes a pre-installed Xiaomi store application.

The Landing Page Is An E-store

Most device brands use their landing pages as showrooms or celebrated online adverts. Xiaomi gets to the point by making its landing page into an unadulterated web-based business store.

Xiaomi's e-store is updated every day to put an accentuation on which items are next accessible in its progressing streak deals. "Xiaomi's item pages copy best practices from Tmall," says Rand Han, the organizer and overseeing chief of Resonance China.

Tmall is China's greatest image-arranged online commercial center with a huge number of merchants, for example, Uniqlo, Costco, and Burberry. That makes Xiaomi's site design recognizable to the huge number of customers on Tmall and other mainstream online business locales in China.

It has the typical tabs to switch between pictures, details, and purchasers' audits and appraisals. Apple's site isolates all that stuff into the Apple Online Store , whereas Xiaomi keeps it upfront.

Uses Another Sort Of Social Trade

Since Xiaomi generally sells its phones over the web, online networking is significant. It does this in China, for the most part, using Weibo, and in new markets, Xiaomi uses Facebook , Twitter , and Google+.

On Weibo, Xiaomi regularly observes commitment levels well more than 60%, as per the Resonance China report, on account of incessant everyday posts on an amazing assortment of themes.

Not exclusively is there the standard buzz for items and news about glimmer deals, yet also motivating forces for retweets, how-to aides, and fun things like photograph challenges . Xiaomi's Weibo will likewise retweet some popular substance significant to its users by circumventing China's web. The retweet also binds into social issues around contraptions and innovation.

Each Item Range Has A Social Center

Xiaomi has 10 primary Weibo accounts, the most prominent of which is the Xiaomi Mobile Weibo with near 11 million fans; the latest account for the MiPad has crossed 500,000 followers.

Xiaomi's corporate Weibo account has 4,000,000 adherents, demonstrating that individuals would prefer to communicate online with contraptions (as it were) as opposed to an organization.

Notwithstanding Xiaomi's social records, the company's administrators are likewise active on Weibo and fill in as brand representatives. Lei Jun has more than 11 million supporters, while Lin Bin has more than 4,000,000.

Consistent Shortage

Xiaomi's glimmer deals help it get control over stock and lessen wastage, staying away from the sort of over-creation calamities seen as of late with Amazon's Fire Phone and Microsoft's Surface RT.

While that makes it harder to get a Xiaomi device, the organization has figured out how to turn that into a positive, making occasional promotion in terms of offering a predetermined number of gadgets every week .

Xiaomi's online life accounts, especially on Weibo and WeChat, play a key job in driving individuals to the enrollment page for each new blaze deal.

At that point, when a glimmer deal is finished, Xiaomi uses "fast sell-out" stats in further online networking postings; for instance, 50,000 Mi4 cell phones sold out in only 25 seconds. Not every person invites streak deals. The procedure is unquestionably much more mind-boggling than the typical snap-and-checkout on most online business locales.

The framework appears to have met with more analysis outside of China than it has in Xiaomi's home country. When Xiaomi propelled in India in September, it confronted a reaction as interest exceeded supply by a factor of two-to-one, bringing about a rush of baffled and disappointed remarks on the brand's Facebook India page. Notwithstanding those disadvantages, new phone manufacturers are imitating Xiaomi (OnePlus) using blaze deals.

Brings Down The Cost Of "Premium"

For Apple, premiums start at about $700. For Samsung , it's about $600. However, Xiaomi slashed it in half in 2011 by offering phones premium specs (yet a simple, blocky structure) at low prices – just $325. Xiaomi has also increased its equipment configuration game with the goal that the feel of the phone doesn't contrast with the amazing specs.

Enlivened by Apple, Xiaomi instructs purchasers on its plan reasoning, underscoring attention on straightforwardness and usefulness in its items. Xiaomi's very own rendition of Android, called MIUI, has additionally assisted with this superior feel as it is more preferred than most of the Android skins out there.

Runs Its Locale

Alongside its cautious online networking stratagem, Xiaomi is likewise starring dynamic in running its locale gatherings, or BBS. This is the place the brand's most bad-to-the-bone fans, named "Mi fans," meet to examine devices, share information, and by and large hang out.

This is something regular to Chinese organizations , yet to a great extent unused by significant brands abroad. Xiaomi's BBS has 30 million enrolled clients and sees 579,000 new posts day by day.

How Does Xiaomi Prosper And Increase Its Revenue?

Q2 of 2018 saw Xiaomi a 152% hop in its abroad income which is esteemed at about Rs 16,700 crores. The internet services help Xiaomi get a net benefit of around 60%. At the point when it at first began its tasks in India, Xiaomi profoundly relied upon informal publicizing to spare any kind of overhead cost.

This enabled the Chinese giant to sell its items (cell phones particularly) at a lower cost than its rivals. Xiaomi was able to pull in more clients as a result. More procurement implies more clients who use Xiaomi gadgets.

Some of its clients will, in general, become faithful to administrations like the MIUI, Mi Store, and so on. This is what Xiaomi needed ever since it began manufacturing phones . Selling the best of equipment at a lower cost and creating a dedicated fanbase is Xiaomi's plan of action.

Things weren't, however, that simple for the Chinese company. After an underlying lift to its cell phone deals, Xiaomi went down in positioning not long after players like Oppo , Vivo, and Huawei (with Honor) overwhelmed the phone space through disconnected streams. Even though Xiaomi was the pioneer in the online space, individuals still favored purchasing phones physically.

Therefore, Xiaomi started to grow its disconnected nearness by opening Mi Home stores and joining hands with the neighborhood merchants. Opening Mi Home Stores achieved two targets:

Xiaomi now had one more channel to sell phones.
People visiting the Mi Home Stores would regularly wind up purchasing different extras like power banks, earphones, and other accessories fabricated by Xiaomi.

Business Growth Of Xiaomi Corporation

In the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi's total revenue amounted to RMB 87.8 billion. Xiami has recorded an increase of 64.0% year-over-year. It adjusted net profit for the period was RMB 6.3 billion.

The Chinese have a fixation with establishing world precedents. So when Xiaomi propelled 500 disconnected stores in India in October, 2019 at the same time, it registered a global record to its name. For a brand that has greatly depended on web-based blaze deals, opening so many stores was a new strategy.

Internationally, cell phone shipments declined 4.1% in the last quarter of 2018, topping off the "most noticeably awful year ever" for cell phone shipments as reported by industry tracker IDC. Be that as it may, India hasn't seen any stoppage.

In 2018, almost 142.3 million cell phones were dispatched in India. That implies a development of 14.5% over the earlier year. Among the cell phones sold in India , Xiaomi has seen significant strides with a 58.6% year-on-year increment in unit deals in 2018 to capture a piece of the overall industry at 28.9% (IDC stats).

It has been in the Indian phone market for just four years but has overtaken Samsung. The latter has a 22.4% share of the overall industry. India represents more than 33% of Xiaomi's cell phone deals all around.

In 2018, Xiaomi India booked an income of Rs 23,000 crore ($3.24 billion), a 174% development over the earlier year, selling telephones valued at a normal price of $142.53. Samsung's cell phone business in India rounded up about Rs 37,349 crore ($4.82 billion) in a similar period, up 9% from the prior year.

The South Korean organization's phones are valued higher with the catalog starting at $250.

In 2016, Xiaomi propelled the RedMi Note 3 and the RedMi 3S — both selling like hot cakes and helping the organization cut into the offers of Indian makers such as Micromax and Lava.

Xiaomi presently sells disconnected in more than 40 urban communities and has more than 4,000 favored accomplices who sell Xiaomi phones. It likewise propelled enormous organization retailers that year through Sangeeta, Poorvika, Croma, and Reliance Digital . The third mainstay of the organization's disconnected procedure was propelling Mi Home stores, which only sell Xiaomi gadgets.

One aspect that has worked very well for Xiaomi is the organization's evaluating procedure. Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun broadly said a year ago that the organization could never make over 5% edges from its equipment portfolio, adjusting the organization to its vision of going past being an equipment creator.

"India is very value touchy and almost (every) client survey of the Xiaomi telephone will say that it is useful at the cost," says Vijay Raj, a Bengaluru-based blogger and analyst.

It's not just about making modest smartphones. There's likewise something exceptionally shrewd affecting everything here. As a Harvard Business Review article brings up, Xiaomi keeps its models in the market longer than other telephone producers.

So when segment costs fall, Xiaomi makes a benefit. A half-year prior, it posted a $2.1 billion benefit for its first quarter of business as a traded-on-an-open market organization.

According to one gauge, Xiaomi's MIUI has around 70 million month to month dynamic clients. That makes it a ground-breaking conveyance stage. "They would need to investigate what we can do to make extra dollars of it," says Kawoosa of TechArt. Xiaomi is making Rs 40-45 for each client for each month, he says.

MIUI was one of the earliest cell phone working frameworks making use of locally available infrared blaster to control apparatuses at home. It additionally presented clever highlights that make it simple for clients to duplicate one-time passwords for online exchanges and organize train booking affirmation messages to conspicuously show the PNR number.

Xiaomi likewise lets clients arrange two WhatsApp numbers on the same phone.. Xiaomi, generally speaking, has an arrangement of more than 200 items — extending from a pen to a cleanser gadget to consoles and PCs — a catalog created through its "biological system accomplices." Most of these aren't sold in India yet.

The organization plans to get as many brilliant gadgets as reasonably possible on a typical Internet of Things platform it calls the "Mi Home application". The primary classes in India are presently telephones, TVs, control banks, sound, wearables , and air purifiers. In September, Xiaomi propelled a home surveillance camera.

Future Plans Of Xiaomi

During his visit to India, Xiaomi's Founder and CEO Lei Jun discussed the organization's arrangements, techniques, targets, and a few indications on the upcoming product offerings for the Indian market. Here are some key highlights of his discussion:

Plans To Expand Disconnected Piece Of The Pie

"If we see by and large market, online is a little piece… so it's somewhat reliant on what number of individuals embrace the Internet. In China, after we have accomplished such a scale (in the online market), the test is how we can accomplish the equivalent in disconnected with effectiveness.

In India, after we accomplished over half piece of the pie in online space, the inquiry is how to do likewise in disconnected," Jun said.

New Assembling Plant

Xiaomi recently enlisted a assembling plant in Andhra Pradesh and guaranteed that over 95% of its phones for the Indian market would now be produced locally. As indicated by this ET report, the organization may even take a gander at sending out Indian produced phones later on.

The cell phone producer as of late guaranteed that it has crossed $1 billion in income from its India operations. Xiaomi makes money by selling phones, wearables, frill, air purifiers, and so on.

In Q4 2016, Xiaomi was the second biggest merchant in India as far as phone shipments were concerned, as indicated by IDC. The organization's Mi Band shipments additionally represented 10.3% of the Indian wearables market in Q2 2016.

More Stockrooms And Administration Focuses

The organization is additionally setting up a third distribution center in Delhi NCR and plans to twofold its administrations focus check from 250 to 500 by the principal half of this current year.

Note that Xiaomi has its web-based business store named mi.com in India. In July 2015, Xiaomi declared that it would also put in resources for setting up a claim distribution center and coordinations.

Plans To Enter The Money Related Division

As disclosed to The Hindu, Xiaomi will dispatch another arrangement of items, although Lei Jun didn't mention what sort of items they would be. Jun additionally implied that the organization is keen on venturing into the money related segment in India .

We are investigating the probability of giving budgetary administrations in India. Be that as it may, this part is exceptionally managed. It requires various licenses. If we could get such licenses, we are glad to be a piece of this monetary administration's development in India.

We have to comprehend if there are confinements on remote substances," Jun says. Xiaomi additionally has an installment administration called Mi Pay that is only accessible in China at the moment and has tied up with Bank of China and Union Pay, a card arrange in China.

On Creating New Openings And Income Targets

Jun likewise talked about how the organization focuses on making 20,000 new openings in the following three years by venturing into disconnected retails , assembling, and dissemination. Addressing ET, Jun said that the organization plans to create near $15 billion in general income by concentrating on developing markets like India and Indonesia.

What is the origin of Xiaomi?

Xiaomi was established in April 2010 by Lei Jun and headquartered in Beijing, China.

Who is the founder of Xiaomi?

Xiaomi was founded by Lei Jun, Lin Bin, Zhou Guangping, Wong Jiangji, Wang Chuan, Liu De, Li Wanqiang, and Hong Feng.

How does Xiaomi make money?

Xiaomi makes money by selling phones, wearables, frill, air purifiers, and so on. In Q4 2016, Xiaomi was the second biggest merchant in India as far as phone shipments were concerned, as indicated by IDC. The organization's Mi Band shipments additionally represented 10.3% of the Indian wearables market in Q2 2016.

What makes Xiaomi unique?

Its varied and unique ecosystem of products and the different way of marketing makes Xiaomi Successful and unique from others.

Is Xiaomi trusted brand?

Xiaomi Corporation is a trusted Chinese gadget manufacturer established by Lei Jun in 2010 and headquartered in Beijing.

Why Xiaomi is successful in India?

Xiaomi propelled 500 disconnected stores in India in October at the same time, it registered a global record to its name. For a brand that has greatly depended on web-based blaze deals, opening so many stores was a new strategy. Internationally, cell phone shipments declined 4.1% in the last quarter of 2018, topping off the "most noticeably awful year ever" for cell phone shipments as reported by industry tracker IDC. Be that as it may, India hasn't seen any stoppage.

Is Xiaomi and Huawei same company?

No, Xiaomi Corporation is a Chinese gadget manufacturer established by Lei Jun in 2010 and headquartered in Beijing, While Huawei is another multinational company of China and a competitor of Xiaomi.

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How Xiaomi Redefined What It Means to Be a Platform

Tony W. Tong,
Yanting Guo,

Three factors enabled the electronics giant’s unique business model.

Traditional platform businesses generally fall into one of two categories: Ecosystems, such as Apple’s App Store, which offer limited resources to a wide array of independently-run firms; and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) companies, such as Intel Capital, which invest heavily into a small number of ventures that promise either financial or strategic returns. However, new research into Xiaomi’s growth strategy suggests that the Beijing-based electronics giant has developed a blended approach, borrowing elements of both traditional ecosystem and CVC firms to create a broad ecosystem of strongly-supported partner ventures. Based on a series of in-depth interviews with executives from both Xiaomi and its partner companies, the authors identify three factors that have enabled this novel business model: Xiaomi structures its investments to incentivize innovation and build trust while still ensuring alignment, proactively fosters an ecosystem mindset throughout its organization, and takes a deliberate, measured approach to expanding the scope of its ecosystem over time.

From Apple to Amazon, Google to WeChat, digital platform-based ecosystems have become increasingly dominant in the last decade. However, while these businesses may all seem to follow similar models, there are in fact major differences between different types of platform companies.

TT Tony W. Tong is a Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship and currently the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. He studies firm strategy, innovation management, and international business. He has published numerous top journal papers in these areas as well as multiple bestseller case studies in Harvard Business Publishing .
YG Yanting Guo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Management at Xiamen University, China. Her research interests lie in technological catch-up, organizational capabilities, and innovation management. She has published articles in journals including Technological Forecasting and Social Change and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management ; as well as several case studies in Harvard Business Publishing.
LC Liang Chen is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Melbourne. He is an expert on platform ecosystems and studies how firms engage in competition, innovation, and globalization in the digital economy. His research appears in Strategic Management Journal , Journal of Management , Journal of International Business Studies , and Harvard Business Review .

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Xiaomi’s Globalization Strategy and Challenges

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone company founded in 2010, had quickly become an industry leader in the Chinese market. By 2016 it had started to expand internationally, and this case lays out the company’s globalization strategies and challenges moving forward. Hugo Barra, a top Android executive, had left Google a few years earlier to lead Xiaomi’s international growth. Xiaomi’s founder and CEO, Lei Jun, said the company’s ultimate goal was “making good but cheap things,” a low pricing strategy that had succeeded in China. The company sold over 70 million mobile phones in 2015—while aggressively building out a robust ecosystem. However, Xiaomi had expected to sell 80 to 100 million units that year; it was facing a declining domestic market and increased competition. Therefore, international expansion had become an important part of the company’s overall strategy.

But expanding to other countries would be a challenging road. For one, it would take considerable time and effort to tailor the company’s Android-based MIUI operating system for diversified markets—and obtain market-access qualifications. Xiaomi’s patent portfolio was thin compared to those of large competitors, and it ran the risk of lawsuits from companies that held patent rights in the countries it wanted to enter. Other challenges included building out sales channels, output capacity, and cross-culture management development. Xiaomi’s international plan included ten countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The next year or two would be critical for Xiaomi—and it needed to make the right strategic decisions to succeed in its globalization efforts.

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Xiaomi Marketing Strategy - Let's Reveal Xiami's Success Strategy

Xiaomi marketing strategy – let’s reveal xiami’s success strategy.

Table of Contents

This article illustrates the marketing mix framework of Xiaomi, and explains key marketing strategies that contribute to the Xiaomi’s business success. The article is primarily useful for the market researchers, entrepreneurs and strategic management/marketing students, who want to learn about the marketing strategies of successful brands like Xiaomi.

1. Introduction

A powerful and well-integrated marketing-mix is deemed critical for business success. In this article, we have discussed the marketing-mix of Xiaomi.

The marketing-mix framework has four components- product, price, place and promotion. We have first analyzed each marketing mix component, and then have discussed its role in making Xiaomi a successful brand.

Click here to get the basic information about the Xiaomi company.

2. Xiaomi marketing strategy

2.1. xiaomi product strategy, 1. xiaomi product mix.

Xiaomi mainly offers hardware, software and internet services. The company has a vast portfolio that includes:

• Smartphones

• Smart TVs

• Wearables smart watches

• Power banks

• PC and TV accessories

• Camera drones

• Routers etc.

By pursuing the product diversification strategy, Xiaomi sells some unrelated product as well, like- apparel, fashion accessories, lifestyle products and smart home accessories like water purifier, vacuum cleaner and rice cooker etc.

2. Xiaomi Unique Selling Proposition

The unique selling proposition of Xiaomi is- offering high product quality with great specs in affordable prices.

Despite charging low prices, Xiaomi fulfills its promise of offering high quality. Due to efficient product design and quality, Xiaomi won more than 145 industrial design awards for its cellphones, TVs and speakers.

3. Xiaomi Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning



Geographic	RegionDensity	Global (70+ countries)Both- urban and rural
Demographic	Age Gender Occupation	Young to middle agedBoth- males and femalesStudents, employees and professionals
Behavioral	Benefits soughtPersonality	Cost attractivenessEasygoing and ambitious
Psychographic	Social class	Working, middle and upper middle class

4. Xiaomi target market

Overall, Xiaomi target market includes:

• Tech savvy customers, who are in age group of 18 to 35 years;

• And are from working/middle class;

• Want good quality and impressive specs in affordable price;

• And perceive market leaders like Apple and Samsung as overpriced.

Following table shows the target market of each Xiaomi sub-brand:


Redmi	Budget conscious
POCO	Budget conscious
Black shark	Gamers
MI	Premium segment

5. Xiaomi customer profile

A recent study revealed that Xiaomi customer base includes:

Predominantly male users (69.1%)
31.7% from 30 to 34 bracket
25.4% from 25-29 bracket
14.2% from 19 to 24 bracket
6.5% are above 40 year old

6. Xiaomi brand positioning

The Xiaomi brand positioning is- a high-tech , yet affordable brand with impressive specs that bridges the gap between mass market and high-end market segment.

7. Xiaomi global revenue mix

Following graph shows the revenue that Xiaomi made in 2022 from different product categories:

Source: Counter Point

The graph shows that from 2021 to 2022, revenue from IoT, internet services and others category rose from 38.7% to 39.6%, while revenue from smartphones declined from 61.3% to 60.3%.

After smartphones, the IoT sales made the highest contribution, followed by internet services, and ‘others’ category.

Xiaomi partnership with Microsoft is also allowing to brand to generate revenue from cloud services.

8. Key takeaway

• Good quality with impressive specs (fully customizable MIUI) at affordable prices drive the Xiaomi to the top spot.

• Product strategy well-aligned with the target customer needs.

2.2. Xiaomi pricing strategy

1. xiaomi pricing strategy.

Xiaomi adopts penetration pricing strategy to expand the market presence through aggressive price reductions. The price penetration strategy enables Xiaomi to gradually gain the foothold in the competitive smartphone market by offering affordable alternatives to expensive phones without compromising over features and quality.

2. Xiaomi pricing objectives

By charging low prices, Xiaomi adopts ‘ low price today and gain later ’ mindset. The key pricing objectives are:

• Penetrate deeper into budget conscious segment

• Charge low price for device, and earn revenue from accessories, services and apps

• Benefit from the price elasticity of demand

• Expand reach to growing mass market

3. How Xiaomi charges low prices?

Brands take cost cutting measures to charge low prices:

• Xiaomi spends most of the money on production and designing

• Spends more on online, cost efficient promotion strategy

• Reduces logistics costs by partnering with online retailers- Amazon and Flipkart

4. Xiaomi price range

Xiaomi smartphones are available in a wide price range of CNY 180 (Xiaomi Mi Max 3) to CNY 6,825 (Xiaomi 13 pro).

5. Xiaomi mission statement

Xiaomi mission statement is well-aligned with its affordable pricing strategy:

To make quality technology accessible to all

6. Key takeaways

• Cheap prices do not always mean cheap quality. By adopting long-term view, Xiaomi charges low prices to grab market share from competitors.

• Initially, Xiaomi entered the market with low-end phones, and today, it is world’s third largest smartphone brand, with strong presence in both- low and high-end segments.

2.3. Xiaomi place strategy

1. xiaomi distribution strategy.

Initially, Xiaomi adopted online-only distribution model. For instance, when Xiaomi entered in India, it gave exclusive distribution rights to Flipkart.

Later, Xiaomi shifted from exclusive to selective distribution strategy, and entered in distribution contract with Amazon and Snapdeal.

In 2021, Xiaomi announced to ramp up the offline distribution .

in India and other countries.

2. Xiaomi distribution channels

• Official website

• Official store outlets

• Online distribution partners

Here are online distribution partners of Xiaomi all over the world:

Here is the list of online distribution partners for Xiaomi smart devices:

3. Xiaomi distribution network

Xiaomi products are available in more than 100 countries. Xiaomi has strong presence in the China, India, Singapore and many other emerging Southeast Asian countries. Its online distribution network is spread in all over the world to ensure maximum coverage.

Following graph shows the Xiaomi’s presence in top ten Asian-pacific countries:

Source: Statista

To know the overall Xiaomi market share, click here .

4. Key takeaways

Xiaomi distribution strategy is well-aligned with its product and pricing strategy. Strong e-commerce presence reduces the logistics costs that allows Xiaomi to charge lower prices without compromising over quality.

2.4. Xiaomi promotional strategy

1. xiaomi advertising strategy.

Xiaomi uses both- online and offline promotional channels. However, its main focus remains on the online marketing.

Initially, Xiaomi only focused on inexpensive social media marketing tactics. But in 2016, Xiaomi revised its promotional strategy, and started investing on traditional advertising channels to achieve international expansion objectives.

2. Xiaomi traditional advertising

Xiaomi spends on the TV and print advertising to reach the mass market. Here is an example of Xiaomi advertisements in newspapers and billboards:

Manu Kumar Jain on Twitter: "Mi Fans! The biggest celebration of the year starts today! It's Xiaomi's birthday 🎂 🎉 Check out today's newspaper ad on Times of India, follow the steps

Other than direct advertising, Xiaomi generates word of mouth through PR story-telling advertising technique :

Karthik 🇮🇳 on Twitter: "A classic advertising v. PR story. Advertising, on Page 1, screams 'we're no.1', while PR, on Page 23 (business page) earns the headline that they're 2nd (I do

The story-telling technique generates the WOM by keeping the readers engaged.

3. Xiaomi social media marketing

In an effort to cut costs, Xiaomi mainly focuses on the social media marketing strategy. The company holds strong presence on famous social networking sites:

Xiaomi Facebook 15 million Xiaomi Global Instagram followers 4.6 millionXiaomi Global twitter followers4.3 millionXiaomi TikTok 2.9 million Xiaomi Pinterest9.4k

4. Xiaomi online brand community

Xiaomi has large online brand community that spreads e-WOM about the brand over different social networking sites.

The company has on online MI brand Community App:

The Official Mi Community App Starts Receiving A Big Update

The community members ask questions, and help each other in solving the problems. The community provides a personal space to users where they can share their experiences and solutions.

5. Xiaomi social media campaigns

Xiaomi frequently launches social media campaigns, and arranges contests and quizzes to generate e-WOM:

Showcase your creativity with the Xiaomi Mi Bunny Design Contest

In 2019, Xiaomi launched its Mi 10 on Twitter in a live video . The video got close to 5 million views, and 50 million impressions, with 60% increase in conversion rate.

6. Xiaomi hunger marketing strategy

Xiaomi adopted ‘hunger marketing strategy’ to achieve digital marketing objectives:

Hunger marketing required Xiaomi to:

• Understand target customers’ emotional needs

• Create an in-purpose supply shortage

• Create buzz and evoke desire to own Xiaomi smartphone

7. Xiaomi celebrity endorsement strategy

Xiaomi invests on celebrity endorsements, particularly in India to capture market share.

In India, Ranveer Singh is the face of Xiaomi-Mi:

Forget Vivo, Gully Boy Ranveer Singh puts Xiaomi in his pocket

8. Xiaomi influencer marketing strategy

Xiaomi identifies and collaborates with tech influencers to reach the mass market.

Xiaomi understands the importance of choosing the right influencer. It collaborates with three types of influencers:

• Professional talent (e.g. Hello-Mate TV- a property related YouTuber)

• Entertainment talent (e.g. Healo Diary- a food vlogger)

• Lifestyle talent (e.g. Ada Pong- Vlogger)

9. Promotional discounts

Xiaomi offers promotional discounts and flash sales to drive the sales. The purpose of offering flash sales is to keep brands under discussion, and grab the attention of potential customers by creating a sense of urgency.

Although, many smartphone brands offer flash sale offers, Xiaomi took it to extreme. In UK, Xiaomi grabbed everyone’s attention by offering $1 flash sale:

Source: BBC

Read full story here

10. Xiaomi marketing budget

In response to the rising competition and changing consumer behavior, Xiaomi is gradually increasing the market budget every year.

Following graph shows the Xiaomi marketing and advertising budget from 2017 to 2021:

11. Key takeaways

Xiaomi blends traditional and digital marketing strategies to engage customers, and create brand awareness. The focus on digital marketing helps Xiaomi save costs, and expand the reach to target market.

3. Recommendations

• Focus on related diversification to earn more revenue from services and accessories

• Expand the official outlets in and outside China

• Increase product variety to widen the price range, and ensure maximum coverage

• Continue investing on digital marketing activities to interact and engage with customers

• Increase marketing budget for traditional marketing activities as well to fuel the international expansion

• Expand the use of influencer and celebrity endorsement strategy in other emerging markets as well (other than India)

4. Conclusion

To sum up, Xiaomi presents a success case study of how brands can achieve enormous success through a well-integrated marketing mix.

Xiaomi understands the market pulse, and acts accordingly. To know about Xiaomi, read our article on Xiaomi SWOT analysis .

5. References

Zhou, K. (2018, April 22). Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun: How Xiaomi Turned the Tables . Pandaily.

Admin, & Admin. (2023a, January 10). Apple’s Marketing Strategy Analysis | Secret behind Apple’s Market Leadership . Strategy Finders.

Rox , R. (2018, January 30). Study in China shows age demographic of smartphone users . Notebookcheck.

Xiaomi Updates: Q3 2022 – Counterpoint Research . (2022, December 9). Counterpoint Research.

Admin, & Admin. (2023b, January 12). Microsoft SWOT Analysis 2023 – A Detailed Analysis by Experts . Strategy Finders.

Admin, & Admin. (2023b, January 11). Comprehensive Analysis Of Walmart Marketing Strategy . Strategy Finders.

Statista. (2023d, March 20). Market share of Xiaomi smartphones in APAC 2022, by country .

Admin, & Admin. (2023d, January 12). SWOT Analysis of Apple | Strengths and Weaknesses revealed . Strategy Finders.

Admin, & Admin. (2023n, March 20). Airbnb SWOT Analysis 2023 – Analysis by Marketing Analysts . Strategy Finders.

How Xiaomi achieved close to 5 million video views by launching its smartphone live on Twitter . (n.d.).

Kelion, B. L. (2018, November 12). Xiaomi criticised for UK smartphone £1 flash sale . BBC News.

Kelion, B. L. (2018b, November 12). Xiaomi criticised for UK smartphone £1 flash sale . BBC News.

Statista. (2022d, May 13). Xiaomi’s selling and marketing expenses 2017-2021 .

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Xiaomi invades the smartphone market in India

Published: 27 May 2020
Volume 47 , pages 215–228, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

Rahela Tabassum 1 &
Shehbaz Ahmed 1

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The case study is based on Xiaomi Corporation, a Chinese Public company, headquartered in Beijing, China. Xiaomi (the word Xiaomi means millet which means a “grain” that is a staple diet in various parts of the world) is the world’s fourth largest smartphone (a smartphone is a mobile phone with various functions of a computer) company based on total shipments. It produces low-cost but high specification smartphones. Xiaomi which has emerged as the top smartphone brand in India also manufactures consumer electronics and mobile apps. Currently, Xiaomi revenue comes from the sale of products like smartphones, Iot, lifestyle products, advertising services and internet value-added services (which include online games). According to IDC India, Xiaomi has 29.7% of market share at the end of Q218. The organization has achieved an astounding growth. Xiaomi’s India revenue jumped 175% in 2017–2018 to Rs. 230.6 billion year on year. The firm that sells smartphones under the brand Redmi and Mi had a net profit of Rs. 2.93 bn in 2017–2018 (according to IDC, Counterpoint Research). Xiaomi Corporation which was founded in April 2010 was listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange on July 9, 2018. Xiaomi being the “Coolest Company” in the heart of its users is committed to continuous innovation. Xiaomi has launched its first smartphone in August 2011 and became the largest smartphone company in China by 2014. Xiaomi the Bengaluru headquartered firm has entered the Indian market on July 15, 2014, in partnership with Flipkart to sell its smartphone with a concept of Flash sales. It has become a global player from a startup company in smartphone market in a span of not even a decade. Samsung of South Korea and Xiaomi of China are expected to continue their fight for top slot in 2019. The study aims to analyse the Indian smartphone market with the business model, marketing mix and innovative strategies of Xiaomi in order to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. The finding indicates that the company needs to focus on improving its product quality, advertising and distribution network to face fierce competition. Through the innovative strategies of Xiaomi, it is likely to become a game changer in the near future.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Xiaomi’s Mission Statement:

At Xiaomi, we strive to create the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices to provide people with access to the necessary tools and services that connect them to the world and, ultimately, their dreams.

Introduction

The use of smartphones has seen spectacular growth in the recent past. Most users have shifted from simple phones to smartphones. IBM was the first company to introduce smartphones in the year 1990. Later, it was followed by Nokia, Ericsson, Apple, Blackberry, Samsung and others. The smartphone market has plenty of new players who manufacture and sell smartphones. Xiaomi popularly known as “Apple of China” was founded 7 years ago on April 6, 2010, by a serial Entrepreneur Lei Jun in Beijing and became the leading smartphone brand in the first largest market China and the second largest market India. Later, it expanded its business in other countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and South Africa. It has entered the Western market but couldn’t catch enough attention. The founder of Xiaomi has an estimated net worth of US$ 12.5 billion which makes him the 11th richest person of China and 118th richest person of the world. The market valuation of Xiaomi is more than the US $ 46 billion.

Initially, Xiaomi was a startup technology-based company and in a span of fewer than 5 years has become a global player in the smartphone market. Xiaomi has launched its first smartphone in August 2011 and became the largest smartphone company in China by 2014. It is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer after Samsung, Huawei and Apple. Its target market is the price-sensitive lower middle-income group of customers and millennials who prefer smartphones in a lower price range.

The serial entrepreneur Lei Jun has founded Xiaomi in 2010 based on the vision “Innovation for everyone”. According to the Wall Street Journal, Xiaomi awarded the founder and CEO Lei Jun about $1.5 billion in stock. In July 2019, Xiaomi was listed in Fortune Global 500 companies and became the youngest Global 500 companies of 2019. It ranks 468th among all categories and ranks 7th in the internet services and retail category (Xiaomi Team-Aug 20, 2019).

It entered the Indian market on July 15, 2014, in partnership with Flipkart to sell its smartphone Mi 3 whose price was Rs. 13,999. It was an exclusive sales tie-up with Flipkart, and the Mi phones were sold within 30 min on the very first day. Xiaomi India’s focus is to design high-quality products and make it available at accessible prices to the world.

To understand the business strategies and competitiveness of Xiaomi India in the smartphone segment.

To evaluate the marketing mix model which provides guidelines to Xiaomi India to put the right product in the right place at the right time and price.

To analyse the major challenges faced by Xiaomi India in the arena of smartphones.

To conduct a SWOT analysis to assess Xiaomi India’s current position and how the company capitalizes its opportunities in the Indian market

Xiaomi: an overview

Xiaomi Corporation which was founded in April 2010 was listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange on July 9, 2018. Xiaomi being the “Coolest Company” in the heart of its users is committed to continuous innovation.

Xiaomi has launched its first smartphone in August 2011 and became the largest smartphone company in China by 2014. Xiaomi India the Bengaluru headquartered firm has entered the Indian market on July 15, 2014, in partnership with Flipkart to sell its smartphone with a concept of Flash sales. It has become a global player from a startup company in the smartphone market in a span of not even a decade. Samsung of South Korea and Xiaomi of China are expected to continue their fight for the top slot in 2020.

In a developing economy like India, the smartphones are unable to reach the masses due to its high prices. Mr Manu Jain, the CEO of Xiaomi India who acts like a nimble startup, maverick Footnote 1 in risk taking, nimble in decision-making but aggressive in execution is aiming to make its foot stronger in the Indian market by targeting people who have been untouched by the telecom revolution. Xiaomi popularly known as “Apple of China” entered the Indian market with an exclusive sales tie-up with Flipkart. In a very short span, the company has acquired the number one position in the Indian smartphone market surpassing even the Korean giant Samsung (Fig. 1 ).

Source : Economic Times, Mar 17, 2019

Journey of Xiaomi India from the time of its inception.

Penetration of Xiaomi in the Indian smartphone market

Xiaomi India has started its operations in India in 2014 and had a meagre share of 3% in 2015.

However, in 2016 it has clocked a revenue of $1 billion and became profitable (Fig. 2 ).

Source : IDC Counterpoint Research

Xiaomi revenue and net profit (in Billion Rs) in recent years.

Xiaomi India’s revenue jumped 175% in 2017–2018 to Rs. 230.6 billion year on year. The firm that sells smartphones under the brand Redmi and Mi had a net profit of Rs. 2.93 bn in 2017–2018 (according to IDC, Counterpoint Research).

The documents available at the Registrar of Companies show that in 2016–2017, Xiaomi India had a net profit of Rs. 1.64 bn and sales of Rs. 83.8 bn. According to Canalys (research agency), Xiaomi smartphones continued to experience high growth in the Indian smartphone market and ranked first in terms of market share by shipments in the second quarter of 2018.

India is an emerging market for smartphones. According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research and Cyber Media Research, although the global annual sales of smartphones have declined, the Indian smartphone market has grown by 12% approximately from about 134 million to 150 million in 2017.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2018, Xiaomi shipped 11.7 mn smartphones and became the top brand in the Indian market with 27.3% in the third quarter of 2018. Xiaomi India was able to grow to a new height with its successful Redmi 5A and Redmi Note 5 Pro series. It also has refreshed it Redmi 6/A/Pro portfolio.

The smartphone segment is the major growth driver in India. According to the ET report, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments in India are going to register a 22% CAGR Footnote 2 in 2018-20E with market share gradually rising to 34% in 2020E from 30% in 2018. Among the emerging markets, India enjoyed the strongest growth of 14% YoY in 2017 to 8% of global market share, up from 7% in 2016 (Fig. 3 ).

Annual growth and market share of smartphone manufacturers in the Indian smartphone market in 2017–2018

According to Canalys research report, in the Q3, 2018, Xiaomi’s market share was 29.8% with an annual growth of 31.5%. Samsung market share was 23% with a negative annual growth of 1.6%. The market shares of Vivo and Oppo were 11.1 and 8.8%, respectively. The annual growth rate was 12.3% and − 2.0%, respectively (Fig. 4 ).

Source : Canalys smartphone analysis, Jan 2020

Annual growth and market share of smartphone manufacturers in the Indian smartphone market in 2018–2019.

According to Canalys Smartphone Analysis, Jan 2020 Xiaomi India was able to maintain its top position in 2019 with an annual growth of 5% and a market share of 29%.

Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments across the globe

According to Macquarie Research, July 2018, Company model has 15% CAGR for unit smartphone shipments in India in 2018-20E, driven by rising population and smartphone penetration rates. When compared to the rest of the globe, Xiaomi’s popularity is incredibly high in India (Figs. 5 , 6 ).

Source : Macquarie Research, July 2018

Xiaomi’s Global smartphone shipment.

Source : Canalys Research

India’s smartphone market Q3 2018-top 5 vendors.

The performance streaks of Xiaomi have shown no signs of abating. The company has cemented its lead in the country by shipping more than 12 million smartphones in Q3 2018. Samsung was able to ship 9.3 million smartphones in Q3 2018. Vivo and Oppo came the third and fourth with 4.5 million and 3.6 million shipments, respectively.

SWOT analysis of Xiaomi

Growing market Growing market for smartphones in developing countries is a major strength of Xiaomi, especially in the Asian market. India, China and Pakistan are the largest consumers in the Asian market. Currently, Xiaomi products are available in more than 80 countries around the world and have a leading foothold in many of them.

Pricing strategy The pricing strategy adopted by Xiaomi is penetrative pricing. It prices its product very reasonably. It offers the right quality at the right price to its customers.

Quality products At a very low price, the company sells good quality products on the e-commerce portal. The smartphones of Xiaomi are regularly rated very high on quality.

Consistent strong revenues and profit The Company has seen a consistent increase in the annual growth for the last 4 years which enabled innovations in the smartphone segment.

Advance technology The smartphones of Xiaomi are technologically advanced and are well known for its cameras which are very high in resolution. Xiaomi is often at the leading edge of new technology as it offers innovative and featured products.

Increased brand awareness The increase in brand awareness of Xiaomi smartphones has resulted in higher sales across the Asian market.

Online marketing The Flash sales of Xiaomi smartphones on e-commerce portal have made consumers go crazy, and the company was able to sell the smartphones at very reasonable prices in a limited time.

Investment in R&D The Company invests heavily in R&D. Its major R&D expense is towards cost advantage Footnote 3 rather than on differential advantage. Footnote 4

Operating advantage Its low production cost is an operating advantage with excellence in engineering and innovative designs.

Brick-and-mortar store Xiaomi was able to sell its smartphone through click stores. (Flash sales). But offline sales were not so attractive. Lack of significant retail presence is a weakness.

Advertising and marketing The company has spent very less on marketing and advertising. Its advertisements are not very consistent. The company spends on advertising only during a new product launch.

Poor service and weak after sales Service centres of Xiaomi India are limited and provide very little after-sales support when compared to the competitors.

Brand image and equity Because of being a Chinese manufacturer, the company’s brand image is not as good as Samsung and Apple.

Opportunities

Growing urban income The per capita income is the indicator of the prosperity of an economy. According to the Ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MOSPI), the per capita income has shown a rise of 8.6% (FY Footnote 5 2017-18). However, it was slower than in the previous year growth pattern.

Increase in urban population According to U.N. World Urbanization prospects 2018 report, 34% of India’s population lives in urban areas. It shows an increase of 3% urban population since the 2011 census.

FDI norms The relaxation in FDI norms has a positive impact on the smartphone industry.

Growing Educated youth preferring smartphones The shopping trend of this growing educated youth has shown a preference for smartphones which are available at reasonable prices. According to the IMF, India’s population mostly comprises of young people, with 41% of people in the age group of 25–40.

Emerging market India as an emerging market for the smartphone segment provides an opportunity to increase revenue.

Government regulation As the government is serious about the security of phones and user data, the company has to respond to India’s data security and privacy concerns. It can be a destabilizing factor.

Health concern As the customers are showing a lot of concern towards health, an awareness about the dangerous effects of using mobile phones can have an impact on consumer behaviour which can in turn have a negative impact on the smartphone industry.

Uncertainties in share market Due to sudden fluctuation in stock prices, Xiaomi sinks after billions of shares are unlocked for sale. This will have an impact on the market share of Xiaomi India.

The imposition of Tax The implementation of GST has increased the prices of goods. But Xiaomi products are still priced cheaper than its competitors. However, when the government has cut the GST rates, the company has reduced its prices of smartphones to pass the benefits to its customers.

Increase in competition The market for smartphone makers in India is saturated as many other Chinese manufacturers (like Oppo and Vivo) are coming up with affordable products with handsome specs.

Business model and innovative strategies of Xiaomi India

The Flash sale model has worked wonderfully for Xiaomi. In Flash sales, the product is generally made available only in limited quantities. The model has made the customers go crazy. The CEO of Xiaomi India Mr Manu Jain has defined himself as a Maverick. He is the one who challenged the status quo by doing exactly the opposite of what other mobile brands were doing in India. People have labelled him Crazy as the rivals were entrenched in brick-and-mortar stores across the country; he has adopted the online route to sell its products in a country like India. The company has got huge orders within that limited time, and Xiaomi India was able to reach its target sales in that short span (Fig. 7 ).

SWOT analysis of Xiaomi India

The pricing strategy of Xiaomi India is that its products are 30–50% cheaper than the top brands like Samsung and L.G. The company’s strategy is to keep just 5% margin for itself. It assembles its products locally to take advantage of Make in India duty benefits. The Company has plans to follow the same pricing strategy for its smart appliances. Moreover, the Flash sales model concept shall also be extended to white goods.

The company focuses on a triathlon model. This creates synergies by cross-selling services and products to users, through its innovative retail concept which involves direct online sales to maximize efficiency and create a long-term direct digital relationship with the users. With its astounding growth, the company has challenged the leading smartphone makers Samsung and Apple in the Indian market (as per the Xiaomi Team report published on Aug 20, 2019).

Xiaomi India’s adopts a line modernization strategy as it intends to expand its smartphone line by refreshing the portfolio and expanding the range. It also wants to expand its product category and has plans to enter the white goods market in India. All the electronic appliances which are going to be launched in India are going to be based on IoT. All these appliances are going to be launched online first and then will be available in exclusive brand stores. The most innovative strategy of the company is its keen focus to create new revenue drivers.

Financial highlights of Xiaomi India

Total revenue was approximately RMB51.951 billion, up 14.8% YoY;

Gross profit was approximately RMB7.26billion, up 28.4% YoY;

Net profit was approximately RMB1.96 billion;

Non-IFRS adjusted net profit was approximately RMB3.64 billion, up 71.7% YoY;

Earnings per share were RMB0.082.

Marketing strategies

The product portfolio of xiaomi india.

The product portfolio of Xiaomi India can be categorized into Smartphones, Smart TV’s and Ecosystem Accessories. The detailed items are listed below:

Smartphones

Redmi Note 6 Pro

Redmi Note 5 Pro

Redmi 6 Pro

Other products sold by Xiaomi India

Power banks

Selfie sticks

Chargers and cables

Bands and fitness trackers

Cases and protectors

Air purifiers

VR headsets

Xiaomi offers high cost-to-performance products. The company adopts a penetration pricing strategy. It offers competitively priced smartphones to its consumers. Indian customers are price sensitive and cannot afford expensive smartphones. According to Xiaomi, its success comes from consistently focusing on price and features. Xiaomi had a tough time in India because of its competitors Samsung, Oppo and Vivo. But because of its penetrative pricing strategy, Xiaomi was able to win its battle in India. However, the company for its Premium models displays aggressive specifications that might create avenues to lift Xiaomi’s brand image and support premium pricing.

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi India has kicked off its No.1 Mi Flash sale on Mi.com and Amazon India. Xiaomi Smartphones were up for sale online for a limited period until Friday in the month of December 2014. Xiaomi India has also partnered with Paytm, Google pay and MobiKwik to offer cashback and rewards to its customers during the Flash sales on Mi.com. The Amazon partner has offered an instant discount to its HDFC Bank Users.

Xiaomi India has taken the online route to enter into Indian market while its rivals were deeply entrenched in brick-and-mortar stores across the country. According to Manu Jain, the India head of Xiaomi as told to ET (Mar 2018), the competitors of Xiaomi were splurging millions of dollars on advertising and hiring bollywood biggies like Khans; the company was betting on word of mouth. The company believed in their blockbuster fans, i.e. their customers.

The Flash sale offered the 4 GB RAM variant of Redmi Note % pro at a discounted price of Rs. 12,999, while Redmi Note % Pro 6 GB RAM model was available at Rs. 11,999. The company offered huge discounts and rewards to its customers during the Flash Sales.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has toppled the leading smartphone maker Samsung in India (Canalys report 2018). Xiaomi which was once considered as a cheap copycat is now able to rub shoulders with the South Korean market leader. It has set up 500 Mi stores in rural areas and has plans to ramp up to 5000 stores in 2019 to increase its offline sales (ET 2018). The company also wants to penetrate the rural market through its offline sales. It also wants to enter into a franchise agreement with its local vendor to reach out to the masses. The size of Mi stores is on average not more than 300 Sq ft. These Mi stores are likely to generate employment opportunities to over 15,000 employees in these regions.

The key factor that supports smartphones sales in India is the rising rate of internet penetration which drives online purchase. However, the internet users in Indian cities rose 10% in 2017, but the overall internet users stayed low at around 480 m in 2017. It is only 35% of the total population which shows a rich upside to grow. The online channel sales of smartphones in India rose from 34% in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 36% in the first quarter of 2018. The rising 4G coverage due to operator investments in 4G networks and 4G service price cuts (e.g. Reliance Jio) have accelerated smartphone market growth (Fig. 8 ).

Smartphone sales in India: online versus offline.

Xiaomi’s high cost-to-performance smartphone models have contributed to its largest market share in India. Another major factor for its rising market share is the comprehensive distribution channels which include both online and offline. Online channels contribute to 70% of Xiaomi’s smartphone sales. According to IDC, riding on the growing online channel market trend (up from 34% in 4Q17 to 36% in 1Q18), Xiaomi also gained market share in e-Tailer shipments, to 53% in 1Q18 from 32% in 1Q17. In May 2017, Xiaomi started its first offline channel in India by establishing “Mi Home”. By 2018, Xiaomi has 17 Mi Home stores. The company increased it to 100 stores by mid-2019.

Although the entry of Xiaomi into the Indian market can be inspiring for many, the company was in the spotlight when the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7s exploded and the company refused to take the blame as it clarified that the damage to the phone was "customer induced" (Report of Times of India). Similar cases have been reported in the products under the Redmi brand as many phones exploded while charging. The Chinese tech company is facing criticism for its faulty batteries and manufacturing defects which caused the explosion threatening the lives of the users. However, the company’s CEO Mr. Manu Jain has made a statement that the damage is caused due to external forces (Business Today Nov 2019).

Moreover, Sweden’s Ericsson smartphone maker got an interim injunction against the sale of Xiaomi’s smartphones claiming that Xiaomi infringed 4 of its patents which deal with GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA technologies. This caused a ban on all Xiaomi smartphones selling in India, but later on smartphones based on Qualcomm chipsets were only allowed. Ericsson later claimed that Xiaomi was selling its non-Qualcomm products through a website called www.xiaomishop.com violating its interim order. Xiaomi India defended the claim by stating that they had no stake on the website and their name was being misused (The Indian Express Nov 2017 ).

In another case, Coolpad a Chinese smartphone maker has filed to Indian court against its rival Xiaomi over patent infringement as India has a good reputation in protecting Intellectual Property Rights (Economic Times Jun 2018).

Though the Xiaomi smartphones are famous for their design, affordable price, high-resolution cameras and good performance, it has faced a backlash on its ad ridden MIUI. Many customers hold back from buying a Xiaomi handset because of the ads being a part of its user interface.

Moving ahead

Xiaomi India has plans to invite more of its suppliers of the component to investing in India. The Chief Marketing Officer of Xiaomi India Mr. Anuj Sharma in an interview with ET said that 95% of smartphones are made in India. One of the suppliers “Holitech Technology” has signed an MoU with the Government of A.P to start its manufacturing facility. Economic Times 2018 report says that Xiaomi India has six factories in India. The company has plans to increase its manufacturing capacity of existing plants and also opening up new plants in India to cater to the local demand of customers. Presently, Foxconn Corporation India Unit makes the company’s phone locally. Foxconn and HiPad are producing Mi and Redmi devices in India. The company has plans to invest heavily in other manufacturers to build an ecosystem of IoT to extend its reach beyond smartphones.

To meet its growing demand for handsets, the company has partnered it with an original equipment maker FLEX to manufacture smartphones in Tamilnadu. This new plant at Tamilnadu is the seventh plant of Xiaomi India. Xiaomi India’s partner Holitech Technology which supplies components to top companies except for Apple sets up a plant in Greater Noida, to invest $200 mn. The new plan has started its operations in the third quarter of 2019. It is also estimated to generate 6000 jobs in the coming 3 years. It has plans to make compact camera modules, screen modules, fingerprint modules, thin-film transistors, capacitive touch and flexible printed circuits.

To boost its growth in the smartphone segment, Xiaomi India has plans to enter India’s rural market as it believes that the urban market has greater potential for the online market, but in rural India, the offline segment provides significant growth. It has launched Mi stores in the Tier 3 market of rural India to cater to the needs of India’s rural smartphone user. The Chief Operating Officer of Xiaomi India Mr Murali Krishna has said in an interview with ET that they have launched 500 stores in the rural market across India.

Out of 48% of market share, 20% of the sales of Xiaomi India are offline and the rest are online. The companies plan to open their own operated and branded stores is still pending with the Government. It has plans to open around 200 retail stores in the next 2 years to increase its target market.

Xiaomi India has plans to enter the white goods market in India which will make the country’s largest smartphone maker the full-fledged consumer electronics company in India. The Company has plans to make its electronic goods as smart appliances based on IoT. These smart appliances can connect to the internet and other devices and can be operated remotely. Xiaomi India’s potential electronic appliance category includes air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, laptops, vacuum cleaners and water purifiers.

The CEO of Xiaomi India as reported to Business Today has plans to launch various product categories in India, and their only concern is to customize the products to suit Indian customers. Xiaomi India would like to foray in areas where stringent rules and regulations don’t apply. Rather than bringing products like Drones which are subjected to strict rules and regulations, the company would like to focus on flexible sectors like electric cycles and vehicles.

The company at present caters to 50 markets in the country and has plans to enter 500 markets. To expand its business, it shall make offline presence through exclusive brand stores with a range of smartphones, smart televisions and other electronic appliances. The Chinese handset maker Xiaomi is all set to install its vending machines to sell its smartphone and accessories in major Indian cities (ET May 2019). These vending machines are called “Mi Express Kiosk “and will allow its consumers to purchase smartphones and accessories. The customers can pay through credit or debit cards, cash and UPI (ET 2019).

Xiaomi India has plans to launch in the high-end range of smartphone market competing for the toe to toe with the likes of Samsung, Oneplus and Apple which currently rule the segment in 2020.

Conclusion and inferences

The handset market has witnessed stiff competition, as the bigger players are getting even bigger and marginalizing the smaller players. Samsung of South Korea and Xiaomi of China are expected to continue their fight for the top slot in 2020. The other rivals for the top five positions will be from Oppo, Vivo, Realme, HMD Global(Nokia) and Huawei/Honor. Through the innovative strategies of Xiaomi, it is likely to become a game changer in the near future. The category expansion strategy of Xiaomi has made it a global player from just a startup firm.

Xiaomi has 190 million MAUs Footnote 6 on the MIUI.MIUI (Mi User Interface) is the proprietary operating system built on the android operating system which allows users to download mobile apps from the android ecosystem. The company has 38 apps with more than 10 million MAUs and 18 apps with more than 50 million MAUs. This app includes Mi App Store, Mi Browser, Mi Music, Mi Video Apps. (ET March 2018). With such innovative strategies, Xiaomi India is building a growing tribe of fans (Xiaomi tribe). They mostly target millennials who are tech savvy and innovators of products.

The most important move of Xiaomi India about offline expansion, especially in the rural market, is the significant factor for its growth and success. Moreover, the promise to get innovative designs like foldable smartphones and bezel-less smartphones at an affordable price shall make Xiaomi India sustain the top position in the long run.

Xiaomi plans to expand its product category (entering the white goods space in Indian market) shall open newer avenues of growth in the Indian market. The appliances based on IoT will contribute to the growing revenue. Xiaomi’s investment in various channels, innovative business models, growing ecosystem across devices and internet services is likely to drive market share gains in the future.

According to IDC 2018, Xiaomi has already acquired 30.6% market share in the first quarter 2019; the company’s future rests on how it capitalizes the strengths and minimizes its weaknesses to create sustainable competitive advantages. Currently, the company should concentrate on improving its manufacturing facility, advertising, product quality and distribution network. The company should come up with more such innovative business practices to deal with increasing uncertainties. The case study is based on secondary data from corporate websites relevant reports, news and articles from business magazines and newspapers. The study is useful to learn about the smartphone segment in India, its growth potential and challenges, future trends. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no such study was made in the past which attempts to investigate the marketing mix strategies, business models and challenges faced by smartphone maker Xiaomi India with the detailed analysis. The study infers that case study of Xiaomi is a lesson for all marketer’s as uncertainties and challenges can appear any time, and a combination of market research and innovative strategies is necessary to face such situations.

Maverick—one who doesn’t go along with group or party.

CAGR—Compounded Annual growth rate

Is something where the focus of the company is on reducing the cost.

Is something where the focus is on developing different features.

FY starts from 1st April and ends on 31st March in India

MAUs—Monthly Active Users.

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Tabassum, R., Ahmed, S. Xiaomi invades the smartphone market in India. Decision 47 , 215–228 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40622-020-00242-w

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Published : 27 May 2020

Issue Date : June 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40622-020-00242-w

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Market Disruption Strategies: The Transformation of Xiaomi

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After breaking into China’s smartphone market, where it becomes a leading brand, Xiaomi sees sales stagnate and then decline as the disruption strategy that empowered its rise loses momentum. As competitors counter every move, targeting its core consumer segment, the company urgently needs to reignite growth and develop a sustainable competitive advantage. The case describes the changing market landscape, Xiaomi’s product portfolio, distribution systems, partnerships, brand management, promotion and pricing. The question is whether to remain focused on smartphones—on which Xiaomi’s reputation has been built—or transform into an IoT ‘ecosystem’ encompassing a wider range of product categories. The challenge is to understand the respective pros and cons and formulate a detailed implementation plan for the chosen strategy.

The case can be used in a variety of contexts, including MBA, EMBA, MS, executive education and undergraduate courses. The topic is suitable for courses on marketing, strategy, branding, entrepreneurship, organizational transformation, ecosystems, IoT (Internet of Things), and emerging markets. The aim is to understand how a firm is able to disrupt an established consumer goods market, achieve continuous growth, and develop a sustainable competitive advantage. The case illustrates the advantages and pitfalls of pursuing a pure online strategy in serving a large emerging market. It highlights the forces driving market evolution in the technology sector and the strategies that enable a firm to thrive (e.g., leveraging network effects conferred by IoT devices in an ‘ecosystem’). It takes students through the process by which a single-category brand evolves into a multi-category brand, the associated benefits and challenges (e.g., positioning, brand architecture), and how to create, grow and manage a brand ‘ecosystem’.

Transformation
Distruption
Emerging Market

Market Disruption Strategies: The Transformation of Xiaomi (Chinese)

By Haiyang Yang , Jingjing Ma , Neal Roese , Amitava Chattopadhyay

Haiyang Yang

Jingjing ma, neal roese.

Amitava Chattopadhyay

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A Case Study on Marketing Strategy of Xiaomi

International Journal of Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS), ISSN: 2581-6012, Vol. 4, No. 2, September 2019.

7 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 2019

CMA(Dr.) Ashok Panigrahi

SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)

Date Written: September 2, 2019

With the intense development and growth of China's mobile communication and technology industry, many manufacturers have come up to take advantage of the growing market of mobile phone users. Approximately 1 billion people own a smartphone. This has led to the birth of many of the world’s famous mobile phone brands. One of the major brands emerged in 2010 was Xiaomi. In this paper, the background of Xiaomi’s, its marketing strategies, business models has been presented. Also, a comparative analysis of the marketing strategy of Xiaomi and other manufacturers has been done to understand the reasons for the market success and the exponential growth exhibited by the company. The current state of information available through various platforms has been used to perform the study. It has been inferred that the primary reason for this exceptional growth has been the product quality at a cheaper rate with a focus on customer feedback and requirements. The testimony to this fact is its ever-expanding portfolio into various domains such as smart TVs, Speakers, home appliances, personal computers to name a few.

Keywords: Marketing Strategy, Xiaomi, Pricing, Branding, India

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ashok Panigrahi (Contact Author)

Svkm's narsee monjee institute of management studies (nmims) ( email ).

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies Mukesh Patel Technology Park Shirpur, MS 425405 India 8888810975 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://nmims.irins.org/profile/149882

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What marketing strategy helped Xiaomi lead the Indian smartphone market

The smartphone market in India is one of the most competitive markets in the country. Both local and international brands fight hard to position themselves in India, as the country is still developing and has a comparatively lower smartphone penetration than developed countries like the US, UK, or the European market.

The number of smartphone users in India is expected to be over 760 million in 2021 according to Statista, depicting the importance of these devices in our daily lives. From Mukesh Ambani down to your nearest chai-wala, everyone can be seen flaunting one. This number is fuelled further by the penetration of the internet in the rural areas, and the coronavirus pandemic shifting business meetings and classes online.

Infographic: The World's Largest Smartphone Markets | Statista

When we talk about buying smartphones in India, one brand that definitely comes to mind is Xiaomi. Almost every second person would be using a Xiaomi phone so much so that in a crowded space, when a phone rings, one would not be able to distinguish their phones from others, because of the familiar Xiaomi ringtone. We have all seen the famous “Kiska baja” ads by the company.

The Chinese player, which has led the Indian smartphone market for three consecutive years, has a whopping 26% of market share as of Q1 of 2021, compared to the 20% market share captured by its long-rival, Samsung. That’s a steep rise for a company that had just 3% of the market in 2015. All thanks to the innovative marketing strategy of Xiaomi that stimulated this growth.

Regulatory filing access by AltInfo showed that Xiaomi posted a profit of Rs 401 crore in FY20 after sustaining Rs 148 crore loss a year earlier. In FY20 Xiaomi India clocked revenue of 38,196 crore which is roughly 13.5% of its global revenue of 2,82,000 crore .

Fun Fact: It’s a very famous fact that Xiaomi owns Mi and Redmi but do you know that there is an unknown Chinese company that owns OPPO, VIVO. OnePlus, Realme- BBK Electronics. If we combine their market share it’s actually BBK Electronics that rules the Indian smartphone market. What strategy did BBK Electronics use to rule the Indian smartphone market?

In this article, we will explore the marketing strategies that Xiaomi deployed to get to the top of the table

Understanding the demand of customers.

The consumer needs in India are different from that of their western counterparts. What works in global markets, may not work in India. Xiaomi sells about 200+ products in China, while in India, the count is about 20+ products. The company has established a dedicated R&D center in Bangalore to specifically cater to Indian consumers.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Xiaomi India (@xiaomiindia)

The price elasticity of demand is high which means that consumers here are sensitive to pricing. Smartphones had not been able to reach the masses due to their high prices before the entry of affordable smartphones. Mr. Manu Kumar Jain , the CEO of Xiaomi India, identified this as a potential and aimed to make its foot stronger in the Indian market by targeting people who have been untouched by the telecom revolution, amidst the explosion of the Internet .

The tech giant’s mission statement, thus, came to be-

“At Xiaomi, we strive to create the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices to provide people with access to the necessary tools and services that connect them to the world and, ultimately, their dreams.”

Ever used a smartphone for more than 2 years? I don’t think so.

Over 52% of the smartphone users in India changed their primary smartphones after at least 2 years of use. 26.9% upgraded their phones within 1-2 years of use. The primary reason is to own the latest or a better smartphone. Xiaomi capitalized on this fickle behavior by frequently launching new products with new features.

Understanding the market and competition

Xiaomi surveyed the Indian market and carefully analyzed the competitive strategies used by Apple and Samsung. It concluded that both the brands had a loyal fan base and a robust operating system-iOS and Android, respectively. It picked up on these conclusions and started designing its own custom UI known as MIUI-based on Android.

In order to compete with the likes of Samsung, Apple, OnePlus, Xiaomi had to constantly work on improving its product. This was done by collecting feedback from users and incorporating it in the next higher version.

Mi fans, calling out all our #RedmiNote8Pro , #RedmiNote7Pro , #RedmiNote7 & #RedmiNote7S users to become a part of pilot testing of #MIUI12 . Let us come together & make #MIUI better for everyone. Apply now: https://t.co/xjWP1qECOJ RT to spread the word. pic.twitter.com/THs8e4jWJg — MIUI India (@MIUI_India) June 12, 2020

Once, Xiaomi was through with its OS, the next big task was to acquire early users. However, it didn’t want to spend huge amounts of money on advertising. Rather, the company wanted to build brand awareness by creating a loyal fan base.

So how did Xiaomi do it?

The company employed people to manage its social media and online forums. This team began engaging with the community. Their efforts proved fruitful the day Xiaomi launched the Mi 3 and the Flipkart website crashed in a matter of seconds!

Apart from this, Xiaomi also runs a lot of campaigns on social media to promote its smartphones and made effective use of word-of-mouth advertising.

#MiFans , Celebrate this friendship day with #Mi . 👬 Here's your favorite #Mi11XSeries at an amazing price. Now save up to ₹13,000. Come celebrate this friendship day with us at: https://t.co/xDxXUdlTnZ pic.twitter.com/Kbw9l2Ge7Q — Mi India (@XiaomiIndia) July 31, 2021

#MiFans , get the best deals on your favourite #Mi Smartphones Up to ₹4,000 off on exchange and ₹3,000 Instant Discount and more 🤩 Head now to https://t.co/D3b3QtmvaT , @amazonIN and shop yours today! pic.twitter.com/WopVPbFR8C — Mi India (@XiaomiIndia) July 29, 2021

Another reason for Xiaomi’s success was the slow collapse of India’s home-grown mobile brands due to the lack of 4G capability. There was a time when we saw Indian players like Micromax leading the market, but things took a drastic turn around 2016-17 when 4G was introduced in India.

By the time 4G had arrived in India, Chinese companies had already managed to successfully outfit cheap phones with 4G technology and were selling them back home! This made it easier for Xiaomi to transition phones from 3G to 4G overnight in India, ultimately killing the Indian brands that failed to adapt quickly.

Quality products at affordable prices

Xiaomi phones rate high on the value-for-money factor that they provide. They come power-packed with features and hardware that make Indians feel that they were getting more bang for their buck. Its flagship Redmi range of phones, for instance, typically start at Rs. 9,999/- rupees and goes up to Rs. 19,999/-.

Penetration pricing is a pricing strategy where the price of a product is initially set low to rapidly reach a wide fraction of the market and initiate word of mouth. The strategy works on the expectation that customers will switch to the new brand because of the lower price.

The way the company used penetration pricing helps explain their popularity in India-consumers were getting better features than before at rock bottom prices. In order to further cut costs, the company started to assemble its products locally in India to take advantage of the Make in India duty benefits.

Here is a review article by Gadgets 360 that has rated Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 10 an overall 9 out of 10 for value for money.

Xiaomi is basically an e-commerce company

Xiaomi largely sells its phones online and does not invest a lot in building an offline presence in the form of a traditional brick and motor retail store. In the Indian context, although it operates its own website to sell its products, Xiaomi also partnered with the biggest e-commerce platforms-Flipkart and Amazon to tap into their strong distribution channels.

This way, the company did not have to incur unnecessary capital expenditure and at the same time, making sure that their products reached the maximum number of smartphone lovers. A simple, yet effective move!

Creating Scarcity

Xiaomi’s flash sales help it reduce inventory costs and overproduction disasters. It is an exciting marketing strategy where Xiaomi uses discounts, time limits, and limited stocks as tactics to fascinate the customers.

While that makes it harder to get your hands on a new Xiaomi device, the company has managed to spin that into a positive, creating periodic hype as flash sales of a limited number of devices open up every week. Although the scarcity of a product results in disappointment, it nevertheless increases the value of the product by enticing the customers to buy it by invoking a feeling of FOMO.

We heard you! India's all-rounder Redmi Note 5 will go on sale at noon on https://t.co/cwYEXdVQIo & @Flipkart . #GiveMe5 pic.twitter.com/Yfqpp1CCS7 — Redmi India – #RedmiBook Super Start Life (@RedmiIndia) March 16, 2018

Once a flash sale is completed, Xiaomi makes use of the quick sell-out in further social media postings, to grab more eyeballs. This is known as hunger marketing. Competitors including OnePlus and Realme have also started using flash sales.

Hunger marketing is a marketing strategy especially focusing on the emotions of human beings. Hunger marketing is a psychological strategy that focuses on the desire of consumers, making them hungry thus having a strong desire to buy products that other people also want to buy.

The Way Forward

Xiaomi’s share of the market has not been able to grow much beyond the 26-27% mark, signaling a plateau. The Korean tech company, Samsung is inching close behind; and newer brands like Realme have started to gain the limelight.

This could explain why Xiaomi is testing waters in the premium smartphone market, with the launch of a new range of phones called the K-20 series.

“A few years ago, the premium market was about three to four percent of the Indian smartphone market. This has now grown.” Xiaomi India’s director, Manu Jain, said in an interview with the Hindu newspaper. He also added that the company had set its sights beyond the affordable smartphone market.

Most recently the Mi 11 series graced this list with much hue and cry. In the advertisement below you will notice a premium feel. Xiaomi has customized its marketing strategy and market positioning for the premium market.

Xiaomi will need to keep pushing its limits and continuously evolve its marketing strategy in India, given that the competition remains fierce and no company has dominated it for too long.

#Mi11 Series: An outstanding ‘Trend-setter’ 😍 1 year ago many didn't believe when we started our premium journey. Today #Mi11Series is ~25% more searched than biggest competition. 🙏 #Mi11Ultra , #Mi11XPro , #Mi11X , #Mi11Lite : all huge success!✌️ Thank you all. I ❤️ #Mi #Xiaomi pic.twitter.com/9mlmMCpNRD — Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) July 30, 2021

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Five Lessons From Xiaomi’s Path to Smartphone Supremacy

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In June 2021, a global smartphone sales report marked an unusual tipping point. According to Counterpoint Research , Xiaomi, with a 17.1 percent share of global sales, surpassed both Apple and Samsung and became the #1 smartphone brand in the world for the first time . More interestingly, Xiaomi did it without entering one of the largest smartphone markets – the United States – due to potential political and legal risks. After Huawei’s setback, Xiaomi is far from an obvious contender to take over global leadership in a market dominated by household brands such as Apple and Samsung. Yet, it happened.

Beyond smartphones, Xiaomi has achieved global supremacy in the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) market, as my INSEAD colleague Amitava Chattopadhyay detailed in a recent INSEAD Knowledge article and case study .

There are many reasons for Xiaomi’s unlikely rise. For example, Chattopadhyay describes how the company effectively leveraged strategic alliances to build competitive advantage in IoT. In this article, I hope to complement his and others’ insights by looking at the fundamental strategic principles that underlie Xiaomi’s highly successful approach in smartphones – a crowded arena deemed impossible to enter by many. These principles can help other companies pay closer attention to challengers like Xiaomi in their industries.

First and foremost, Xiaomi’s product strategy closely follows the value innovation principles .

Xiaomi’s phones are designed to solve the unmet need of the iPhone users. Instead of following the industry playbook and pushing incremental technology improvements, Xiaomi continues to make conscious feature choices.

For example, the first Mi phone was designed for the dissatisfied Apple customers in China. Because of the fast development of super apps, such as WeChat, Chinese consumers use their smartphones to chat, commute, shop and pay for everything. As a result, long battery life is absolutely critical. For Instagram or Weibo influencers, camera hardware and software are essential for photos, videos and livestreams. Compared to these essentials, other features (such as the gyroscope) are superfluous decorations.

Having developed a deep understanding of local needs, the Mi phone product team made serious trade-offs to replace “decorative” features with essential upgrades. Facing the ultimate smartphone brand, the first Mi have already won a cult-like following because of the value offered in the local context.

As early as 2014, Xiaomi sales surpassed both Apple and Samsung in China. By 2018, Mi phone overtook Samsung in India . Every step of the way, they stick to the value innovation principles and making value trade-offs based on the local consumer needs. When I spoke to the Xiaomi design team, they idolised Steve Jobs not because of his personality but his obsession with consumer behaviours and attention to detail. Now it seems the student has grown into a master.

Second, Xiaomi created truly differentiated products for each consumer segment.

While Apple trying to hold on to its high-end positioning and Samsung carefully playing across multiple segments by gradually “watering down” features to supply lower-end markets, Xiaomi chose the less “smart” and less efficient way. The company designed different products with specific feature trade-offs based on the needs of each segment. Xiaomi also created sub-brands in each segment: Mi for the high end (now Xiaomi), Redmi (and Note) for mid-market and POCO for low end.

For example, compared to Samsung, Redmi phones often offer better performance on key features such as battery life, processors and display while selling at a lower price.

Third, Xiaomi plays smartly across multiple digital ecosystems.

Xiaomi’s strategy differs from Apple, which orchestrated digital ecosystems through the App Store, iTunes, AppleTV, etc. Staying true to its identity as a hardware provider, Xiaomi offers devices that support multiple ecosystems in China – WeChat (Tencent), Weibo, Alibaba, etc.

In addition, Xiaomi has created a broad range of complementary products that offer multiple entry points to these ecosystems, such as electronic scooters for mobility, IoT appliances, and more. Their broad coverage helps to create an integrative and coherent consumer experience and in turn anchors their phone as the connecting point of the different ecosystems. Chattopdhyay and his co-authors coined the term “strategic coalescence” to describe how Xiaomi tapped personal networks to select high-quality partnerships, ensured mutual incentives and profitability throughout the ecosystem, and used the gains therein to enable a low-margin policy that made Xiaomi products irresistible to consumers.

Fourth, Xiaomi is everything digital in their business and organisation.

Founded a mere 11 years ago, Xiaomi understands the digital world and the digital generation. Compared to Apple and Samsung, Xiaomi was born digital and had a blank canvas to set up its product and its business.

Apple made the smartphone an essential part of our everyday lives. But Xiaomi understands that smartphone is not just another cool gadget but a central control tower of our lives.

In addition, Xiaomi organises its business activities around digital. While the glass cube flagship stores helped establish the Apple brand, Xiaomi built its brands primarily online. The company heavily leverages social media marketing including flash sales and fan events to promote products. As a result, digital helped Xiaomi significantly reduce its costs.

Xiaomi also built a small and Agile organisation. With around 22,000 employees, Xiaomi’s total headcount is significantly smaller than the 28,000-strong Samsung IM division , leaving aside global marketing and other central functional teams of Samsung.

Finally, online shopping highlights the strength of Mi phone features.

During the pandemic, most consumers around the globe needed to shop online, and often with a limited budget. Instead of the unparalleled in-store experience so carefully crafted by Apple and the undeniable brand allure from Samsung, online value buyers are presented with the stripped-down list of features in a product comparison table. Because the value-to-price ratio is designed according to consumer needs, Xiaomi becomes the obvious winner. Glowing reviews from satisfied customers then trigger recommendation algorithms, and their sales continue to rise.

It remains to be seen how long Xiaomi can sustain its global leadership position. However, their strategy may not be easily copied by Samsung in a short period of time, which makes this likely more than just “a summer fling”.

About the author(s)

Chengyi Lin

is an Affiliate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD. His research primarily focuses on digital transformation and innovation for global and multi-national organisations.

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PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH

16/08/2022, 05.15 pm

Very Impressive article. Good learning.

10/09/2022, 02.29 pm

Thank you, Pradeep!

It is interesting to see how the new Apple 14 release starts to focus on these features as well - such as camera (massively more pro) and battery life (all in, all day).

Anonymous User

20/09/2021, 05.27 pm

the xiaomi mobiles can affect in the market

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How BLEND transforms Xiaomi’s Global Presence Powering Local Sales

Xiaomi is one of the world’s biggest names in consumer electronics, dominating the Chinese smartphone market and shipping over 125 million units a year. Despite being a relatively young company, founded in 2010, Xiaomi has rapidly expanded throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, and around the world, winning an ever-increasing loyal customer base thanks to a combination of premium-level features, low prices, and the close relationship the company nurtures with a global community of active users. Of course, with global expansion comes linguistic expansion: software, user agreements, privacy policies, and more, all require seamless, rapid localization. For Xiaomi it quickly became clear that they needed a partner who could provide not only professional native communication but also an in-depth understanding of each market’s needs and culture – and with a fast turnaround. BLEND became their ideal localization partner, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions: reliably excellent translation services to 45 languages, full Crowdin integration, expert centralized management, and much more. This enhanced local appeal had immediate and long-lasting benefits for the Xiaomi brand, driving significant growth in multiple markets with minimal operational hassle.

The Challenge:

Finding the Consistency in Infinite Diversity For Xiaomi customers, their phones, laptops, and other electronics are at the very core of their daily lives, from work and studies to entertainment and communication. This means that being able to use Xiaomi technology in users’ native languages is key to Xiaomi’s marketing and sales strategy as it expands to new territories. When Xiaomi approached BLEND with this challenge back in 2015, there were already several major issues that had to be resolved. Firstly, there were 18 different languages to deal with, ranging from major global languages to much smaller niche ones like Maltese, Basque, Galician, and Catalan. Secondly, due to Xiaomi’s unprecedented expansion speed, the Xiaomi community had been pitching in to help with translations – an amazing stop-gap effort, but one that led to many pre-existing consistency issues and required correction of previous material while simultaneously handling new texts. Finally, as the world of mobile communication never pauses for breath, Xiaomi needed a way to get translations almost in real-time for their daily software updates and any other sales, marketing, or legal language requests that might pop up at any minute, for any language.

The Process: Smooth, Seamless & Xiaomi

The advantages of working with BLEND became abundantly clear the moment the relationship began, all the way back in 2015 (just five years, but Xiaomi has covered a whole lot of ground in that period of time). Santi Guan, Xiaomi’s Software Localization Manager, explained that the company had gone from just a few languages to 18 almost overnight, and the localization strategy had to match up with the broader market penetration strategy. “When we’re entering the biggest markets, like those in Europe, distributors insist on having sales and marketing materials in local languages.”

The Xiaomi team recognized the importance of multi-market localization to drive sales and partnered with BLEND to power their efforts. It was a big step up from relying on an ad-hoc approach where each territory did its own thing.

BLEND’s full integration with the Crowdin localization management platform made the process much smoother for both sides. Instead of manually uploading each text to both the Xiaomi and BLEND platforms and then notifying BLEND for each and every translation, Xiaomi can simply submit documents, screenshots, or even specific strings (anything from ten to 10,000 words), and they are allocated to the right translators automatically. For Xiaomi, the question of the “right” translators is about so much more than ensuring texts are sent to translators who deal with the necessary language – English, Swedish, Hungarian, Hebrew, Lithuanian, and more. Quality is crucial, as the software and online documentation is the public face of the company worldwide, shaping the user experience for millions of people every minute of the day.

“For clients like Xiaomi that are submitting so much, reliable quality and consistency are crucial. That’s why we provide a huge pool of exclusive, pre-approved translators – so we can cover every eventuality with the assurance that Xiaomi is always getting premium quality.” Corina Apostoiu, BLEND’s Project Manager

Since 2015, the BLEND-Xiaomi relationship has gone from strength to strength, with BLEND’s global community of localization experts always on hand to accommodate Xiaomi’s evolving needs. No matter which territory becomes the next focal point for the Xiaomi sales team, full and ongoing localization is always available, with quick turnaround and impeccable cultural knowledge.

“Sometimes I get unusual language requests from our sales team,” Santi said, “and I assume we’ll have to take the risk of going local and hiring a translator who we don’t know, and who doesn’t know our system. But no matter what language we need, BLEND always has it!” Santi Guan, Xiaomi Software Localization Manager

Another major issue – Xiaomi’s struggle with consistency and quality control throughout older community-translated texts – has also been resolved thanks to the full integration between the BLEND and Xiaomi platforms via Crowdin, which enables smooth editing and revisions and direct communication with the translators who are on the job. Translators can also receive the kind of specific training that is only possible through long-term ongoing relationships, minimizing the chances of glitches or misunderstandings. BLEND has become a hub for all Xiaomi’s language projects, taking the weight off the shoulders of local marketing managers and coding teams. Instead of multiple uncoordinated translation efforts, Xiaomi is able to run every request and concern through a single dedicated account manager. This creates a completely hassle-free workflow for Xiaomi, freeing up sales, marketing, and software development specialists to focus on what they do best: growing the business.

Bonus: Coming to a Pocket Near You

Xiaomi entered its first non-Chinese market (Singapore) in 2014 and established a fruitful relationship with BLEND in 2015. The rest is history… and the future. Backed by BLEND’s powerful localization capabilities, Xiaomi has now launched in upwards of 80 global markets, with big ambitions for continued expansion.

“We’re really growing quickly in Europe – not just our phones, but the whole MiOT Ecosystem, like smartwatches and smart bands,” Santi enthused. “The whole brand is becoming very popular. Having software in the local languages is a huge part of that, especially where we don’t have local marketing teams. It’s a vital tool for sales.” Santi Guan, Xiaomi Software Localization Manager

This support for sales teams, as well as legal and other departments, is hugely significant for a company straddling cultures as diverse as Japan, Spain, and just about everywhere in between. Xiaomi’s phones, laptops, smartwatches, and other devices aim to feel perfectly at home on any desk or in any purse or pocket, and BLEND is able to offer that broad cultural appeal. When consumers and distributors prefer that local touch, BLEND provides native nuance and flair, enhancing brand affinity and reach all the way around the globe.

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Extensive S.W.O.T Analysis of Xiaomi

By Aditya Shastri

Xiaomi stands as a global technology giant of immense stature, securing a noteworthy position as the fourth-largest player in the electronic manufacturing landscape, alongside industry titans like Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

In the following discourse, our focus centers on delving into Xiaomi’s distinct approach to addressing challenges and capitalizing on its formidable strengths. To delve deeper, we will embark on an exploration of swot analysis of Xiaomi, offering insights into the company’s internal dynamics and external positioning.

Now, commencing our exploration, let’s begin with a succinct overview of Xiaomi’s remarkable journey.

About Xiaomi

Xiaomi Corporation, often known as Xiaomi Inc. throughout Asia, is a Chinese multinational electronics firm located in Beijing that was created in April 2010. The company manufactures and invests in a wide range of products, including smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, home appliances, purses, shoes, consumer electronics, and more.

In August 2011, the company released its first smartphone, and it quickly gained market share in China, eventually becoming the country’s largest smartphone manufacturer by 2014. It was the world’s fourth-biggest smartphone manufacturer at the start of the second quarter of 2018, leading in both the largest market, China, and the second-largest market, India.

Its Mi and Redmi smartphone lines are well-known and well-suited to the market. SWOT analysis of Xiaomi is presented below.

SWOT Analysis of Xiaomi

The cornerstone of a SWOT analysis of Xiaomi lies in its ability to evaluate internal strengths and weaknesses, alongside external opportunities and threats. This comprehensive examination encompasses all favorable and unfavorable elements that impact the company’s triumph, spanning both internal workings and external influences. By consistently scrutinizing the operational landscape, an organization gains the foresight to anticipate evolving trends and integrates this knowledge into its strategic decision-making.

Outlined below is a succinct overview of the four key variables: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

1. Strengths of Xiaomi

Strengths are the characteristics that enable us to carry out the mission of the company. It is the first attribute in SWOT analysis of Xiaomi .These are the foundations for achieving and maintaining long-term success. Xiaomi is known for its manufacturing with high quality. Let’s take a look at it.

One of the World’s Largest Smartphone Manufacturers

Xiaomi is one of the largest smartphone producers in the world. As of 2017, it is considered to be the fifth-largest smartphone producer. Smartphones, which originate in China, are mass-produced in large quantities and are widely accepted around the world.

Products of High Quality

The phones are of excellent quality, even at such low rates. The smartphones consistently receive great ratings across all E-commerce platforms, demonstrating that Xiaomi does not compromise on quality even as it lowers prices on a regular basis.

Manufacturing Edge

China has a significant manufacturing advantage because it is well-known for producing and exporting goods. China is also one of the Asian market’s largest consumers

Specifications

The smartphones are technologically advanced as well, and the brand offers superior tech specs at a reduced price. Xiaomi phones are known for their cameras, which are considered to have a high quality and produce outstanding images.

This brings the strength segment to a close. So, let’s take a look at Xiaomi’s weaknesses.

2. Weaknesses of Xiaomi

Weaknesses are characteristics that impede a corporation from fulfilling its objective and realizing its full potential. These flaws have a negative impact on the organization’s success and growth. Weaknesses are the second attribute in SWOT analysis of Xiaomi & are the characteristics that do not meet the standards that the company believes it should meet. Xiaomi experiences this with its advertising and marketing strategies. Let’s focus it on detail.

Offline Distribution

The company mostly offered through flash sales, although users found it difficult to obtain a REDMI or MI model phone at times. This is because the firm offline distribution is lacking, and Xiaomi phones are primarily sold through e-commerce.

Spends on advertising and marketing

The brand spends relatively little on advertising and marketing. Only when a new product is released does the company launch Above the Line ( ATL) marketing. The advertising, on the other hand, is at best sporadic and seldom constant.

Low Skimming Price

While other smartphone makers rely on skimming prices to stay afloat, Xiaomi uses flash sales to launch its own phones at low prices. As a result, it is unable to benefit from the higher price, or the benefit is not as lucrative as it would be for Samsung, Apple, or other high-end brands.

Thus, these are some of the weaknesses that Xiaomi deals with. Let’s take a turn into the opportunities of Xiaomi.

3. Opportunities for Xiaomi

The environment in which the company functions presents opportunities. These occur when a company can take advantage of the conditions in its surroundings to devise and implement tactics that will help it become more lucrative. By taking advantage of opportunities, businesses can obtain a competitive advantage. For instance, Xiaomi grasps its opportunities by expanding its product with new portfolios. Some are mentioned below.

For Xiaomi, covering expanding countries and emerging regions should be a top focus. It should grow to nations where the E-commerce method of purchase is well established or in the process of establishment, as it primarily follows the online sales model, which is becoming increasingly popular in many countries.

Product Lineup

Xiaomi’s product portfolio is small, with only two major series contributing to the company’s overall revenue. Expanding the product portfolio will aid the brand in both brand building and income generation.

Smartphone Adoption

The smartphone as a product is gaining traction around the world, and people are increasingly adopting smartphones in conjunction with the Internet. Xiaomi will gain from this Smartphone market penetration. The better phones the company makes, the more market share the firm will be able to gain.

Brand Building

In order to improve the brand image, tactics such as sales promotions, trade promotions, ATL campaigns, and Below The Line (BTL) campaigns should be launched as frequently as possible. When it comes to BTL campaigns, Xiaomi lags behind Oppo and Vivo.

These are the notable opportunities for Xiaomi. So, now let’s go with its threats.

4. Threats to Xiaomi

Threats develop when events in the external environment affect the organization’s ability to operate reliably and profitably. Intense competition, brand differentiation, service centres act as major threats to Xiaomi. Let’s have an overview of it.

Competition

Oppo and Vivo are two of Xiaomi’s greatest competitors because both the companies are Chinese companies with similar manufacturing advantages to the company. Oppo and Vivo, on the other hand, have a significant offline presence and a large distribution network. As a result, it poses a significant danger to Xiaomi.

The absence of service centres in proportion to the brand’s sales is a concerning fact. If Xiaomi wants to keep its clients, it needs to expand its sales and service facilities.

The Brand Distinction is Non-Existent

Brand differentiation is getting increasingly challenging in the smartphone market. Each company is developing products that are nearly identical, making it difficult for customers to choose one brand over another. This will become increasingly challenging as more and more Chinese firms enter the market.

Let’s finally end this blog with a conclusion now that we’ve learned about SWOT Analysis of Xiaomi.

Thus, we have seen the SWOT analysis of Xiaomi. On the whole, Xiaomi is in a strong position. A good foundation for any business is to provide incredibly high-quality products at reasonable prices while also making a profit. Xiaomi, unfortunately, has a shaky reputation. In terms of opportunities, the company may be able to capture a large portion of the burgeoning smartphone markets in developing countries like Africa. Though it has too many obstacles with flaws, it can improve its weaknesses by enhancing its opportunities into its strengths.

Thank you for investing the time to read this blog. Please feel free to suggest your valuable thoughts in the comments. Try other blogs about several different companies on IIDE’s website. Also, if your interest is being a digital marketer, try the free Digital Marketing Masterclasses provided by IIDE.

Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs...... [Read full bio]

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A Case Study on Marketing Strategy of Xiaomi

2019, International Journal of Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS)

With the intense development and growth of China's mobile communication and technology industry, many manufacturers have come up to take the advantage of growing market of mobile phone users. Approximately 1 billion people own a smartphone. This has led to birth of many of the world's famous mobile phone brands. One of the major brand, emerged in 2010 was Xiaomi. In this paper, background of Xiaomi's, its marketing strategies, business models have been presented. Also, comparative analysis of marketing strategy of Xiaomi and other manufacturers has been done to understand the reasons for the market success and the exponential growth exhibited by the company. The current state of information available through various platforms has been used to perform the study. It has been inferred that, the primary reason for this exceptional growth has been the product quality at cheaper rate with a focus on customer feedback and requirements. The testimony to this fact is its ever expanding portfolio into various domains such as smart TVs, Speakers, home appliances, personal computers to name a few.

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The Smartphone manufacturer from China has a very novel business model wherein they manufacture cell phones in batches thereby keeping the inventory costs on a very low side. The company has really challenged the brick and mortar model and sell online, thereby cutting down the intermediaries and keeping the costs down for the company. The company sells smartphones almost on the cost price. The profit margin is very thin, and the company believes that they will make money by selling accessories and other complementary things. The problem which ascends now is that how Xiaomi would be able to adjust to the increased competition from other players like Huawei and ZUK from Lenovo who have imitated the same model. The second issue which has come to time light is that would this business model be sustainable over the long period. The third issue is how the company would react to the decline in the smartphone sales in China which has been one the main driving forces responsible for companies growth.

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This paper reports a study of early and rapid internationalization experience of young Smartphone firms from China, a large emerging market. Following the most popular methodology of building theories with multiple-case study methodology, we distilled research findings about the successful set of marketing strategies from the interviews with the managers of four popular Chinese cell phone makers/brands in their entry into Indian market. This set of qualitative data can support our "Conceptual Framework of Successful Entry of Chinese Smartphone Companies into Indian Market" with propositions about relationships between the constructs. The paper then enfolds and compares literature relevant to late movers, new international ventures and marketing and strategies that involve product innovation and adaptation, pricing tactics along with Integrated Market Communications (IMC) to target another emerging market different from one's home market. The findings of this study will...

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The purpose of this article to understand the marketing mix of the smartphone from consumers’ point of view, i.e. consumers’ expectations from a smartphone. This article would help the producers understand the needs and wants of the customers regarding smartphones. The smartphone industry has lot of potential in it and we will witness more technological boom in the near future. And just coming up with a brilliant design will not serve the purpose but solving a particular problem would be more beneficial. So to solve this problem the producers need to understand what a customer wants from his/her smartphone now, i.e. more specifications, a better design, a mid-range device, etc. The articles centralize on the fact about creating awareness among the producers about the utility of the customers regarding smartphones, so that the producers could make changes which could satisfy the demand and expectations of the customers regarding smartphones. The article will give you a preview of the competitors and their activity in the market at present. This article would be a great help to the smartphone companies to understand their customers and their needs in a better way. Keywords: marketing mix, smartphone market, potential in the market, competition

This paper reports a study of early and rapid internationalization experience of young Smartphone firms from China, a large emerging market. Following the most popular methodology of building theories with multiple-case study methodology, we distilled research findings about the successful set of marketing strategies from the interviews with the managers of four popular Chinese cell phone makers/brands in their entry into Indian market. This set of qualitative data can support our “Conceptual Framework of Successful Entry of Chinese Smartphone Companies into Indian Market” with propositions about relationships between the constructs. The paper then enfolds and compares literature relevant to late movers, new international ventures and marketing and strategies that involve product innovation and adaptation, pricing tactics along with Integrated Market Communications (IMC) to target another emerging market different from one’s home market. The findings of this study will serve as a ba...

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The Aim of this study is to examine the influence of Brand Equity elements (Brand Awareness, Brand Association, Perceived Quality and Brand Loyalty) on Repurchase Intention of Xiaomi Smartphone on College Student in Brawijaya University Malang as Scope. The Research is Explanatory Research which explains the casual relation between the variables through hypothesis testing. The data collection technique of this study uses questionnaires. This study used 120 samples of the student who ever used Xiaomi Smartphone. The research time was held in February 2019. The sampling technique used purposive sampling and the research instruments were tested using the Validity Test, Reliability Test. The hypothesis used Partial (t-Test) using Partial Linear Square (PLS) analysis technique to analyze the data. The result from this study showed that variable of brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and brand loyalty provides good value and each of them made a significant effect on Repu...

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This AI factory of the future builds high-end smartphones and evolves on its own

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

The arrival of ChatGPT and other generative AI products with amazing capabilities also brought the expected worries. AI might get out of control one day and lead to our collective doom. It won’t happen overnight, but some of these scenarios often involve sophisticated AI developing its own army of products or robots in an ultimately nefarious plan to take over control of the planet.

Specifically, Chinese vendor Xiaomi announced that its new Smart Factory will use robots and AI to manufacture all the Mix Fold 4 and Mix Flip phones it’s about to unveil.

Built from the ground up, the factory features specialized hardware and software that allows Xiaomi to fully automate the manufacturing process. Humans are only involved in supervising the AI, which can manage the entire operations and even figure out solutions to problems it might encounter along the way.

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The new Smart Factory follows a previous test in Yizhuang. Xiaomi used the Smart Factory to fully automate the production of Mix Fold smartphones, which amounted to one million units a year.

Xiaomi prioritizing foldable devices for these AI-run factories actually makes sense now that I think about it. I attended the Galaxy Fold 6 and Flip 6 event in Paris earlier this week and briefly used Samsung’s new foldable phones.

Let me know in the comments what you're most curious about this Xiaomi Smart Factory. pic.twitter.com/5TU5ts9aMS — Lei Jun (@leijun) July 8, 2024

Putting AI in charge of robots to assemble phones like the Mix Fold 4 and Mix Flip can speed up foldable phone production while ensuring all the sensitive components are handled with extra care.

“What’s most impressive,” Lei Jun said, “is that this platform can identify and solve issues while also helping to improve the production process. That’s really incredible! This platform blew our colleagues away when they first saw it.”

Step into the heart of our factory, the "War Room". Our Xiaomi Hyper IMP (Intelligent Manufacturing Platform) is the brain of the operations, proactively solving issues and optimizing production.😎 pic.twitter.com/6ZWhOm5wle — Lei Jun (@leijun) July 9, 2024

Of course, any CEO would say that about a groundbreaking new AI tech without providing specific details. And Lei Jun’s statement is not as scary as it might seem. It doesn’t mean AI can take over human designs and make them its own.

That sounds a little scarier, but only if you fear AI. Doom worries aside, such AI-based automation might expand to all sorts of factories. Some jobs will inevitably be lost to AI.

The real test for Xiaomi’s Smart Factory will come later this year when the Mix Fold 4 and Mix Flip reach consumers. That’s when consumers will be able to inspect the build quality of these robot-built foldables.

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