Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer known for its value-for-money philosophy, hasn’t flirted with the U.S. for years. If you’re a long, long, long-time PhoneArena reader, you might remember that the company, known as “China’s Apple” back in the day, used to hint about offering its smartphones in the States. In 2016, after the company hired Googler Hugo Barra, the latter said that Xiaomi could not afford to stay out of the U.S. That turned out not to be true.
Even without directly offering its phones to U.S. consumers, Xiaomi is doing big business as its recent fourth-quarter numbers show. Helped by strong smartphone sales, Reuters reports that the company beat estimates by reporting the equivalent of $10.17 billion in revenue during the October-December period, a 10.9% gain year-over-year. Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments during the final quarter of 2023 rose a strong 23% to 40.7 million handsets. Research firm Canalys computed Xiaomi’s global market share at 13% placing it third behind Apple and Samsung.
Xiaomi reported a strong 236.1% increase in profits during the fourth quarter
In China, Xiaomi was fifth in market share during the fourth quarter; the company’s 13% market share in its home country was accompanied by a 12% hike in smartphone shipments to 9.5 million units. Xiaomi President Lu Weibing told listeners during a conference call, “As previously expected, the overall smartphone shipments in the second half of 2023 were better than the first half. The global consumer electronics market continues to show a gradual recovery trend.”
Helping Xiaomi experience a strong fourth quarter was the early October release of its flagship Xiaomi 14 series which sold one million units just one week after its release. Also helping the company prosper has been its diversification into the domestic appliances market and this month it will start delivering its first Electric Vehicles (EV) through 59 Xiaomi Stores in 29 cities. On March 28th, the company will hold an event to introduce its EVs with pricing expected to be announced during the event.
During the fourth quarter of 2023, Xiaomi had net profits equal to $680.63 million U.S. Dollars. Not only did this figure top estimates, it also was a whopping 236.1% year-over-year increase.