Xiaomi
Xiaomi
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
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
smartphone manufacturer after Samsung, Huawei and Apple. Its target market is the
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
home appliances, and household items. Behind Samsung, it is the second largest
(software development). In 2020, the company sold 146.3 million smartphones and its
MIUI operating system has over 500 million monthly active users. It also is a major
vehicles, and air purifiers using its Internet of Things and Xiaomi Smart Home
product ecosystems. The name "Xiaomi" literally means millet and rice, and is based
on the Buddhist concept of starting from the bottom before aiming for the top. Xiaomi
was founded in 2010 in Beijing by now multi-billionaire Lei Jun when he was 40
years old, along with six senior associates. Lei had founded Kingsoft as well as
Joyo.com, which he sold to Amazon for $75 million in 2004. In August 2011, Xiaomi
released its first smartphone and, by 2014, it had the largest market share of
electronics. In the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi surpassed Apple Inc. to become the
to Canalys. The company is ranked 338th and is the youngest company on the Fortune
Global 500. Xiaomi keeps its prices close to its manufacturing costs and bill of
materials costs by keeping most of its products in the market for 18 months, longer
than most smartphone companies, The company also uses inventory optimization and
flash sales to keep its inventory low. Initially the company only sold its products
online; however, it later opened brick and mortar stores. In April 2014, Xiaomi
purchased the domain name mi.com for a record US$3.6 million, the most expensive
domain name ever bought in China, replacing xiaomi.com as the company's main
December 2014, Xiaomi raised US$1.1 billion at a valuation of over US$45 billion,
making it one of the most valuable private technology companies in the world. The
financing round was led by Hong Kong-based technology fund All-Stars Investment
Limited, a fund run by former Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Ji. In 2014, the
company sold over 60 million smartphones. In 2014, 94% of the company's revenue
came from mobile phone sales. In April 2015, Ratan Tata acquired a stake in Xiaomi.
On 30 June 2015, Xiaomi announced its expansion into Brazil with the launch of
locally manufactured Redmi 2; it was the first time the company assembled a
smartphone outside of China. However, the company left Brazil in the second half of
2016. On 26 February 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi5, powered by the Qualcomm
Snapdragon 820 processor. On 3 March 2016, Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 3 Pro
Snapdragon 650/652 processor. In June 2016, the company acquired patents from
Microsoft. In September 2016, Xiaomi launched sales in the European Union through
a partnership with ABC Data. Also in September 2016, the Xiaomi Mi Robot vacuum
the Mi6, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. In July 2017, the
company entered into a patent licensing agreement with Nokia. On 5 September 2017,
Xiaomi released Xiaomi Mi A1, the first Android One smartphone under the slogan:
Created by Xiaomi, Powered by Google. Xiaomi stated started working with Google
for the Mi A1 Android One smartphone earlier in 2017. An alternate version of the
phone was also available with MIUI, the MI 5X. In 2017, Xiaomi opened Mi Stores in
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The EU's first Mi Store was opened in Athens,
Greece in October 2017. On 7 November 2017, Xiaomi launched sales in Spain and
smartphone brand in India. Xiaomi sold 9.2 million units during the quarter. In April
2018, Xiaomi announced a smartphone gaming brand called Black Shark. It beared 6
GB of RAM coupled with Snapdragon 845 SoC, and was priced at $508, which was
cheaper than its competitors. On 2nd May 2018, Xiaomi announced the launch of Mi
Music and Mi Video to offer "value-added internet services" in India. On 3rd May
Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, and Sweden In May 2018, Xiaomi began selling
smart home products in the United States through Amazon. In June 2018, Xiaomi
became a public company via an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange, raising $4.72 billion. On 7 August 2018, Xiaomi announced that Holitech
Technology Co. Ltd., Xiaomi's top supplier, would invest up to $200 million over the
next three years to set up a major new plant in India. In August 2018, the company
2018, the Xiaomi Poco F1 became the best selling smartphone sold online in India.
The Pocophone was sometimes referred to as the "flagship killer" for offering high-
end specifications at an affordable price. In October 2019, the company announced
that it would launch more than 10 5G phones in 2020, including the Mi 10/10 Pro
Xiaomi with entry-level and mid-range devices. In March 2020, Xiaomi showcased
ABSTRACT
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
smartphones. Xiaomi which has emerged as the top smartphone brand in India also
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
flat in 40 minutes. In October 2020, Xiaomi became the third largest smartphone
maker in the world by shipment volume, shipping 46.2 million handsets in Q3 2020.
On 30 March 2021, Xiaomi announced that it will invest US$10 billion in electric
vehicles over the following ten years. On 31 March 2021, Xiaomi announced a new
logo for the company, designed by Kenya Hara. In July 2021, Xiaomi became the
second largest smartphone maker in the world, according to Canalys. It also surpassed
Apple for the first time in Europe, making it the second largest in Europe according to
share data with the Chinese government under the China Internet Security Law and
National Intelligence Law. There were reports that Xiaomi's Cloud messaging service
sends some private data, including call logs and contact information, to Xiaomi
servers. Xiaomi later released an MIUI update that made cloud messaging optional
and that no private data was sent to Xiaomi servers if the cloud messaging service was
turned off. On 23rd October 2014, Xiaomi announced that it was setting up servers
outside of China for international users, citing improved services and compliance to
regulations in several nations. On 19th October 2014, the Indian Air Force issued a
warning against Xiaomi phones, stating that they were a national threat as they sent
Check Point found a security breach in Xiaomi phone apps. The security flaw was
reported to be preinstalled. On 30th April 2020, it was reported by Forbes that Xiaomi
extensively tracks use of its browsers, including private browser activity, phone
metadata, and device navigation, and more alarmingly, without secure encryption or
data, and saying that the data was not linked to any individuals and that consumers
had consented to being tracked. Xiaomi posted a response stating that the collection of
aggregated usage statistics data is used for internal analysis, and would not link any
Gabriel Cirlig, the writer of the report, Xiaomi added an option to completely stop the