A Brief History of Smartphone Xiaomi

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Xiaomi was founded in April 2010 by ex-Kingsoft CEO Lei Jun, as a software company creating a new custom ROM based on Google’s Android. They aimed to provide additional functionality that Android had yet to offer and an easy-to-use user interface. MIUI, the ROM which the team created, became a huge success and has been ported to many devices. As of 2014, MIUI can be downloaded and installed on over 200 machines in English and Chinese; even non-developers can easily install MIUI to their phones using the MIUI Express APK. As of the end of 2013, Xiaomi had over 30 million MIUI users worldwide! Very impressive for such a young company!

The MIUI ROM was likened to Apple’s iOS for being very easy to use while providing sophisticated services such as cloud backup, an easy-to-use music player, and their app store. The team at Xiaomi has always wanted users to feel part of the company and happily take on fan feedback via multiple channels and update the ROM every Friday with bug fixes, optimization, and additional features. Too good to be true? Well, try it out for yourself, as it is probably available for your device already.
In 2011 Xiaomi announced the Mi One phone. Xiaomi was now not only making its software but its hardware too. The Mi One was a top-spec phone with a great price way ahead of its time; this has remained Xiaomi’s philosophy from day one.

While commenters are quick to call the Beijing-based company “The Apple of China,” Xiaomi prefers to compare itself to Amazon; they create powerful hardware which they sell at a cost price and rely on their services and content to make up most of the revenue. Their income for 2013 alone over $5 billion, extremely impressive for a new company. There are similarities between Xiaomi and Apple; however, they are both hardware and software companies, both have strong control over supply chains, and both have a feverish fan base. Apart from this, the two companies do not have much else in common, Apple price their smartphones at ludicrous prices and do not take on much customer feedback, whereas Xiaomi does the opposite.

In 2012 Xiaomi shipped 7.2m smartphones, and in 2013, Xiaomi shipped 18.7m smartphones and even shipped more than Apple in one quarter. In the first quarter of 2014, Xiaomi had already sent over 11m smartphones, more than they sold in the entirety of 2012 and just over half the 2013 sales numbers. Demand continues to increase due to the high specification hardware of their devices and the price they sell their products.

International markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, where Xiaomi is also officially available, have seen similar demand to China. This continued expansion out of China also prompted the high-profile hire of Hugo Barra (ex-Google android executive), whose job it is to discover new markets. Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and India will see Xiaomi phones next. That may eventually lead to an official European and US launch, but nothing is confirmed yet. And besides, those that want Xiaomi phones are willing to pay the money to import the world’s best smartphone.

Pamer

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