Chinese tech giant Xiaomi started as a ROM maker and has only been operating for four years, but the overwhelming reception by consumers of their devices such as Mi3, Redmi 1S, Redmi Note, and their latest flagship smartphone Mi4, made them the world's 3rd top smartphone manufacturer this 3rd quarter of 2014, as reported by IDC and Strategy Analytics.
Not only did it capture its very own market, but has expanded globally and succeeded. To date, they have launched their smartphones and tablets to countries like Singapore, HongKong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and recently, India.
It was July of this year when Xiaomi introduced their products to the Indian market and the response so far has been phenomenal. The brand was able to hold 8 flash sales (not including the sale on November 4) to date due to the increasingly high demand of their top seller mid-range smart phone, the Redmi 1S. Based on their data, they have sold more or less 600,000 units of Redmi 1S in India alone, and is expecting to sell 60 million units of all their products globally by the end of 2014.
According to IDC, Xiaomi has 5.3 % share of the market which is way behind Apple's 12% share, but in terms of smartphone shipments, it garnered a total of 211% from last year, "making it the fastest growing among the top vendors." China, however, is still the biggest chunk of Xiaomi's market, where they sold 14.6 million total of all their units, out of the 15.1 million that were shipped globally. It has removed Apple and Samsung as the "number 1 maker by volume" in its very own country.
To date, Xiaomi's products are still selling like hotcakes particularly in China and India. The company takes pride in selling their high quality products at a budget-friendly price. "We just fundamentally believe that when it costs you $200 to make something, you shouldn't sell it for $600...The business model is to make a little bit of money where we can. Innovation is not a luxury item. Innovation is for everyone," Xiaomi's VP for International Operations Hugo Barra said.
