Xiaomi has become a household name now and has captured the loyalty of global fans. (Photo : YouTube)
Xiaomi has become a household name now and has captured the loyalty of global fans.
A new entrant into the field of mobiles being a five year old company, Xiaomi has become extremely popular mainly due to its low prices, high-end smartphones and paying heed to user feedback plus innovating quick changes to suit the users. With this high popularity, it was predicted that Xiaomi is to break the 80 million sales; however, surprisingly, it did not.
On its Facebook page, Xiaomi had said, as early as 2014, that it has over 3.5 million users and 2.7 million fans, an amazing growth for such a young tech company. Its revenue for the first half of 2013 reached $2.15 billion after it sold 7.03 million devices - just shy of the 7.19 million units it sold during the whole of 2012. Xioami's overall expected rise in smartphone sales was 1.2 percent in 2015 as compared to 19.7 percent in 2014, an 80 percent decrease.
This dramatic dip in sales was likely due to tougher competitions in its home country, overcrowding of smartphones and due to other new entrants in the field. It is also to be noted that users were already satisfied and in possession of high-end smartphones, which eliminated the necessity of a new phone.
At the time, when Xiaomi entered the market, it had to compete with well-known companies like Apple and Samsung, and in spite of that, it broke the record by earning huge revenues in its first year, and also got a huge fan following. But in the last two years, it has to compete with new vendors, and low demand for smart phones in China. Hence it is now looking for expansion, and is eyeing for a following in countries abroad like Brazil and India.
Xiaomi failed to cross the 80 million shipments abroad, and it can be said that the company had overestimated the demand. It is said that the sale was low, not due to any defect in the product, for Xiaomi still has a loyal followers.
Tapering smartphone adoption, along with a turbulent year for the Chinese stock market are at the heart of the global slowdown in smartphone shipments, and Xiaomi will continue with its overseas expansion, and is confident of meeting its sales target in 2016.
