Xiaomi Aims to Top European Smartphone Market

Xiaomi aims to be the top smartphone brand in Europe in the near future, said Xiaomi’s CEO Jun Lei Thursday during Xiaomi’s developer conference in Beijing. 

Xiaomi surpassed Apple for the first time and ranked the world’s third-largest smartphone brand in the third quarter this year, according to data compiled by IDC. Its strong growth made it the only company that saw a shipment increase among the top smartphone manufacturers in China’s market this year. 

Technology is what backed up Xiaomi’s sterling performance, and the company will continue to increase investment in developing new technologies, Lei said. Xiaomi currently has more than 10,000 researchers and will recruit 5,000 new engineers next year to focus on the research and development of camera imaging technology, screen display technology, fast charging and wireless charging technology, IoT platforms, Al and automatic speech recognition technology, big data, cloud technology and 5G & 6G communication technology, among others. 

Lei said Xiaomi will keep laying a solid foundation in China and leverage resources to expand its global market share.

The domestic market for Xiaomi, however, is increasingly competitive. Apple is holding onto its crucial market share in China and Huawei will pivot more on the Chinese market in the future as well due to the US sanctions that cut its chipset supplies, which has complicated user experiences overseas. In contrast, Xiaomi is looking at a hopeful market prospect in Europe where Huawei’s pullback created considerable potential for Xiaomi, OPPO and other Chinese smartphone brands.

Xiaomi executives also shared information about the company’s performances in other sectors. Vice President and Chairman of Technical Committee Baoqiu Cui said there are more than 36 million people using Xiaomi’s intelligent devices, more than 4 million customers use Xiaomi’s smart robot vacuum daily and 2 million households use Xiaomi’s smart door key. 

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During the event, Xiaomi also launched the 5.0 version of its smart voice assistant, Xiaomi XiaoAI Portable Speaker. Users can have conversations with XiaoAi and even customize XiaoAi’s voice. Cui said XiaoAi has been activated more than 61.7 billion times. 

Xiaomi has created impressive sales numbers during the first wave of the double 11 festival (Nov. 1 to Nov. 3) this year. The company made 4 billion yuan in sales on all platforms combined until Nov. 1 midnight. Its smartphones claimed the top spot in the Android phone category on JD.com, Tmall.com and Suning.com. Its televisions also ranked first in sales on JD.com, Tmall.com and Suning.com. Xiaomi’s AIot router ranked first in 105 categories on JD.com, Tmall.com and Suning.com.