Xiaomi Tech

28 'Xiaomi Tech' stories December 2013 - January 2016

Xiaomi’s $46B valuation questioned as company misses sales target, faces greater competition

Ben Lovejoy Jan 11 2016 - 5:27 am PT

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, speaks at a launch ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014. China's Xiaomi unveiled on Tuesday its new flagship Mi 4 smartphone, aimed squarely at the premium handset market dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS TELECOMS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY LOGO) - RTR3ZN52

Investors are “beginning to question” Xiaomi’s $46B valuation after the company reportedly failed to hit its sales target of 80M smartphones in 2015, reports the WSJ. That target was itself reduced from 100M last summer, and the company has also not yet delivered on its promise of substantial revenue from Internet services.

Xiaomi has faced tougher competition from more established brands like Huawei.

Huawei’s engineering strength and brand image, built up over decades, make it difficult for Xiaomi to compete in China, analysts say.

“The competition in China’s smartphone market has intensified tremendously this year,” said a Xiaomi spokeswoman, who declined to comment on the company’s valuation or say whether it met its 2015 sales target.

Huawei comfortably overtook Xiaomi to become the Chinese market leader in October of last year …

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Samsung, Lenovo/Motorola, Xiaomi lose smartphone market share as Apple & Huawei make gains

Ben Lovejoy Oct 29 2015 - 6:39 am PT

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Two separate market share reports show that Samsung, Lenovo/Motorola and Xiaomi all lost out in global smartphone market share year-on-year, while Apple and Huawei made gains. Huawei yesterday reported that it was on track to ship 100 million phones this year.

Strategy Analytics estimates that market leader Samsung saw its market share fall from 24.5% in Q3 2014 to 23.7% in Q3 2015, while Counterpoint has the numbers at 23.9% to 22.9%. Lenovo/Motorola saw a big fall from 7.6% to either 5% or 5.3%, while Xiaomi experienced a smaller drop …
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Gartner: Samsung sees worldwide sales fall 5.3% YOY, losing out to Apple & Chinese brands

Ben Lovejoy Aug 20 2015 - 5:41 am PT

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New data from Gartner suggests that Samsung saw its worldwide sales fall by 5.3% year-on-year, its market share dropping from 26.2% in Q2 2014 to 21.9% in the same quarter this year. The company lost ground to both Apple and Chinese brands Huawei and Xiaomi.

Despite the launch of new S6 models, Samsung’s premium phones continued to be challenged by Apple’s large-screen iPhones. Samsung lost 4.3 percentage points in market share and declined 5.3 percent in unit sales in the second quarter of 2015.

Samsung was hit hardest by Huawei, which saw sales growth of 46.3%, followed by Apple, which increased its sales by 36% …
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HTC will cut 2,250 jobs by year’s end as part of restructure

Cam Bunton Aug 13 2015 - 6:05 am PT

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In a move that’s no surprise to anyone who’s been following HTC news recently, the company just announced that it’s going to cut 15% of its workforce. Some 2,250 people will lose their jobs as part of the company’s aim to cut 35% of its expenses before 2016 rolls in.

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Xiaomi announces new Redmi 2 Prime, its first smartphone ‘made in India’

Cam Bunton Aug 10 2015 - 4:02 am PT

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Smartphone manufacturers are climbing over each other to take full advantage of the rapidly expanding market opportunities in India. Chief among them is Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi, which has just announced its first smartphone assembled in India, for the Indian market only. The Redmi 2 Prime still predominantly uses parts from China, but is assembled in Sri City.

As for the device itself, the Redmi 2 Prime offers a considerable memory and storage upgrade on the regular Redmi 2 without costing a whole lot more. For just under 7,000 Rupees ($110 USD) you get a device packing 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, that’s double the memory and capacity of the Redmi 2 which costs just under 6,000 Rupees ($94 USD). Both devices make use of Qualcomm’s 64-bit Snapdragon 410 processor and host 4.7-inch IPS HD (1280×720) displays and an 8MP camera on the back. What’s more, they’re dual SIM and can cope with LTE speeds up to 150Mbps.

Xiaomi plans to bring more of its manufacturing process to India, eventually producing more of its components and packaging within Indian borders. Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s chief stated “this is like the typical chicken and egg story. Unless there is any smartphone manufacturing happening in the country, you cannot expect to get components locally.” So this is very much just the first step in its journey to cracking the Indian market.

Indian consumers can purchase the new Redmi 2 Prime direct from mi.com from today.

Kantar: Samsung and LG account for 78% of US Android smartphone sales

Tom Maxwell Aug 6 2015 - 9:17 am PT

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Screen Shot 2015-08-06 at 9.21.22 AM

Consumer insights and research firm Kantar Worldpanel has released its smartphone sales data for the second quarter of 2015, which runs from April through June, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag for Android. Growth in the United States and China, but declines in Europe. Android also saw market consolidation stateside during the three month period.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way. In the second quarter, Kantar says Android posted its “strongest year-on-year share drop in Germany” since the beginning of 2015. 81% of all smartphones sold in Germany during the same period last year were powered by Android, compared to 75% this year — other smartphone operating systems have seen gains in the country during the same period.

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Strategy Analytics: Huawei overtook Microsoft/Nokia to become world’s 3rd largest mobile phone vendor

Ben Lovejoy Jul 30 2015 - 5:27 am PT

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Strategy Analytics has issued its latest estimates of global mobile phone shipments, and reports that Huawei overtook Microsoft (which incorporates the Nokia-designed Lumia) last quarter to become the third-largest mobile phone vendor in the world. The company saw its shipments grow almost 50% to 30.6M units, contrasting strongly with an overall industry growth rate of just 2%.

Ken Hyers, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Huawei shipped 30.6 million mobile phones and captured a record 7 percent marketshare worldwide in Q2 2015. Huawei is rising fast in all regions of the world, particularly China where its 4G models, such as the Mate7, are proving wildly popular. Huawei has finally overtaken Microsoft to become the world’s third largest mobile phone vendor for the first time ever.”

The company shared some earnings results earlier this month, showing a 30% increase in revenue and claiming to be on track to hit 100M sales this year.

Samsung retained the number one slot, but saw its market share slip from 22.3% to 20.5% on disappointing Galaxy S6 sales. Samsung earlier revealed an 8% drop in profits, the fifth year running it has reported a decline in profitability …

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Xiaomi smartphone sales up 33%, but reduces target as growth rate slows

Ben Lovejoy Jul 2 2015 - 3:54 am PT

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[tweet https://twitter.com/xiaomi/status/616414920855257089/]

Xiaomi has announced sales of 34.7M smartphones in the first half of 2015, up 33% year-on-year. While the number is a substantial one, it’s a long way short of the 227% growth it experienced last year, and the company told Re/code that it has reduced its target for the year from 100M to 80M units …
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Xiaomi announces bamboo casing for its iPhone 6 competitor, the Mi Note,

Ben Lovejoy Mar 17 2015 - 5:11 am PT

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bamboo

Xiaomi‘s 5.7-inch phablet, launched in January, is now available in a special edition with a back cover made from natural bamboo. Xiaomi said that the Mi Note can be preordered now for delivery within two weeks, priced at RMB2299 ($370).

The Natural Bamboo Edition combines the awesome experience of 5.7 ” display and the smoothness as well as uniqueness of natural bamboo.

As it’s real wood, each back cover will be unique. Inside, it’s the same specs as the standard model: a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 CPU with 3GB RAM, 13MP main camera and 1080p display.

Xiaomi positions the Mi Note against Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, though is copying the wood idea from Motorola.

IDC numbers from last month show that Xiaomi is now the top-selling smartphone brand in China, overtaking Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei and Coolpad last year. The company recently held an event in San Francisco in which it said it had no plans to launch in the USA this year, but wanted to “introduce the brand” to Americans.

Comms chip company Qualcomm fined almost $1B in Chinese anti-trust case

Ben Lovejoy Feb 10 2015 - 4:39 am PT

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qualcomm

Qualcomm, which licenses 3G and 4G communications patents to smartphone manufacturers, has been fined almost a billion dollars by the Chinese government in an anti-trust case. The company was found to have abused its dominant position in wireless chip technology by charging “unfairly high” licensing fees to manufacturers of smartphones and tablets.

The 6B Yuan ($960M) fine is the largest fine ever imposed on a foreign company, reports the Guardian. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the fine was calculated as 8% of Qualcomm’s 2013 revenue in China. China is responsible for around half of Qualcomm’s total revenue.

Chinese regulators said that Qualcomm bundled together patent licenses, forcing Chinese companies to buy unwanted licenses in order to get the core 3G and 4G ones they needed. Qualcomm said that it was disappointed by the ruling, but has agreed to separate out its licenses to allow companies to purchase only the ones they need.

The ruling should reduce costs for Chinese smartphone makers, but it isn’t known how significant the saving may be, and it’s unlikely to show up as a price-reduction for consumers.

Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters

Huawei has record-breaking year: 75M phones, over $12B revenue

Ben Lovejoy Jan 27 2015 - 7:33 am PT

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huawei1200

Chinese manufacturer Huawei has announced record-breaking results for 2014, with smartphone sales up 45% to 75 million and revenue up 30% to $12.2B. The numbers aren’t too great a surprise, as Reuters came pretty close to calling them in a piece posted on New Year’s Eve.

The dramatic growth in sales could see Huawei threatening the rankings of both LG and Xiaomi in the next round of market share estimates after recently being knocked down into fifth place …

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Huawei smartphone sales up 40%, revenues up almost a third, says Reuters

Ben Lovejoy Dec 31 2014 - 4:08 am PT

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huawei

Reuters has pre-empted Huawei’s financial results, due to be released next month, citing an internal memo showing a 40% year-on-year increase in smartphone sales, with divisional revenue up almost a third to $11.8B.

The division shipped about 75 million smartphones in 2014, according to the year-end memo to employees sent by Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business. Although that represented a more than 40 percent year-on-year increase, the figure lagged behind Huawei’s previously stated sales target of 80 million units.

While the company started life making low-end handsets, it later branched out into high-end smartphones, including the recently-announced Honor 6 Plus, closely modelled on Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus …
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OnePlus celebrates 1-year anniversary w/ invitation-free sales, a $15 battery pack … and being banned in India

Ben Lovejoy Dec 17 2014 - 6:03 am PT

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oneplus

OnePlus is celebrating it’s first anniversary by making its OnePlus One ‘flagship killer’ smartphone available without the invitation you’ve so far needed to order one. Both the white 16GB and black 64GB models are available.

The company is also offering 11% of all accessories, a prize draw to win a 64GB model and a competition to name its forthcoming custom ROM in which you can win both a phone and a trip to Hong Kong to meet the team.

Yesterday’s ‘Go further’ teaser, however, turned out to be rather unexciting …
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Senior heads rolling at Samsung’s mobile division in first stage of downsizing operation

Ben Lovejoy Dec 5 2014 - 6:14 am PT

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samsung

The downsizing expected at Samsung‘s mobile division has seemingly started at the top, with Re/code reporting that three senior execs are leaving the company. This follows the loss of five high-ranking execs earlier in the year.

Three deputies to the head of Samsung Electronics’ mobile division are leaving, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, as the world’s largest smartphone maker faces a rapid decline in profit […]

The departures included global marketing chief D.J. Lee, the source said, confirming earlier media reports.

All three of those leaving are said to be direct reports to mobile head JK Shin, who survived the cull despite presiding over a 74% drop in profits in his division …
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Samsung staff braced for redundancies as company set to announce annual personnel changes

Ben Lovejoy Nov 28 2014 - 5:01 am PT

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Many Samsung employees are expected to lose their jobs in the next week or two as the company is set to announce its annual personnel changes early next month. The company recently reported a 74% drop in mobile profits and is planning to produce 30% fewer smartphone models next year in the face of increasing competition from Chinese brands Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei.

Dramatically slowing sales of its flagship handset led the company to shore up its share price with a $2B stock buyback …
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Chinese iPhone clone maker Xiaomi investing $1B in YouTube clone

Ben Lovejoy Nov 12 2014 - 7:10 am PT

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xiaomi-miphone-3-3

Xiaomi, the Chinese Android manufacturer which heavily bases its product designs and marketing on Apple products, is to invest $1B in the Chinese YouTube equivalent, Youku.

Xiaomi has long been aware of the importance of an integrated hardware-and-services offering, initially selling its smartphones at cost-price in order to build market share, relying on its app store to generate profits. A tie-in with a video service makes similar sense – smartphones and tablets providing an audience for video content, and video content driving demand for devices on which to view it – but the move is likely to be primarily driven by Xiaomi’s move into the smart TV market …
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Samsung warns Q3 profits will again miss analyst expectations, blames imploding smartphone margins

Chance Miller Oct 6 2014 - 5:25 pm PT

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samsung-headquarters

Samsung on Monday night issued a statement warning that its third-quarter earnings would be considerably weaker than it initially expected. The South Korean company stated that it expects a third quarter operating profit of 4.1 trillion won, or $3.8 billion, and sales of 47 trillion won. Both of these numbers are below Reuters’ forecasts of 5.6 trillion won in operating profit and 50.9 trillion in sales (via CNBC).

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Xiaomi claims to have sold 40,000 budget smartphones in India in 4.2 seconds

Ben Lovejoy Sep 2 2014 - 5:52 am PT

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[tweet https://twitter.com/hbarra/status/506728176358133763]

Chinese Android manufacturer Xiaomi may be trying to compete at the high end of Android devices with it’s iPhone-inspired Mi 3 handset and unsubtley-named Mi Pad, but it isn’t neglecting the low-end of the market. Its Redmi 1S just launched in India and, according to a tweet by former Google exec and now Xiaomi Global VP, sold 40,000 units in 4.2 seconds …
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Xiaomi apologizes for uploading address book data from smartphones without permission

Ben Lovejoy Aug 12 2014 - 4:57 am PT

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xiaomi-mi2s

Former Android head and Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra has apologized to owners of its smartphones for “any concern caused” by collecting contact data from address books without permission.

A recent […] report by F-Secure raised privacy concerns by stating that Xiaomi devices are sending phone numbers to Xiaomi’s servers. These concerns refer to the MIUI Cloud Messaging service. As we believe it is our top priority to protect user data and privacy, we have decided to make MIUI Cloud Messaging an opt-in service and no longer automatically activate users […]

We apologize for any concern caused to our users and Mi fans. We would also like to thank the media and users who have been sending us feedback and suggestions, allowing us to improve and provide better Internet services …

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Credit rating agency Fitch says Samsung’s market share will fall from 31 to 25 percent

Ben Lovejoy Aug 12 2014 - 4:01 am PT

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SAMSUNG

Samsung’s troubles are far from over, says credit rating Fitch, predicting that the company’s share of the smartphone market will fall from 31 percent last year to 25 percent next year, reports the WSJ.

Nitin Soni, a Singapore-based director of corporate ratings at Fitch, warned that Samsung had lost its edge with consumers as Chinese companies like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei make cheaper and cheaper products that meet most consumers’ needs.

He added that innovations like wearable devices and curved screens – two of Samsung’s recent tricks – are “unlikely to change the trend” …

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As expected, Samsung Mobile profits slump 31 percent as Chinese competition bites

Ben Lovejoy Jul 31 2014 - 4:55 am PT

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Trial Begins In Apple-Samsung Patent Battle

Samsung has announced a 31 percent drop in for its mobile division, broadly in line with its earlier guidance, when almost 200 managers “voluntarily” handed back 25 percent of their bonuses. Year-on-year operating profits fell from 6.43T won ($6.28B) to 4.42T won ($4.32B).

Chinese competition in low- and mid-range handsets was cited as one of the key reasons for the slump, with Samsung Mobile’s SVP Kim Hyun-Joon promising that the company would address this.

We will respond more aggressively to meet demand in the Chinese market […] in the latter half of this year by introducing more products with better specification as well as better price competitiveness …

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Xiaomi announces $13 Mi Band wearable with phone unlock feature, and first LTE phone

Ben Lovejoy Jul 22 2014 - 5:34 am PT

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mi-band

Rapidly-growing Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi announced its first wearable today, the Mi Band. While it’s a fitness band rather than a smartwatch, it does have one smartwatch-style feature: it can be used instead of a passcode to unlock Mi phones.

The waterproof Mi Band measures activity levels and sleep patterns, has a smart sleep-cycle alarm and claims to have a 30-day battery-life. Amazingly, it will be going on sale in China and Singapore for the equivalent of just $13 …
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Samsung managers apologize for poor results, handing back 25 percent of their bonuses

Ben Lovejoy Jul 18 2014 - 6:29 am PT

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Students walk out of a showroom at the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in Seoul

Reuters reports that almost 200 Samsung managers have “voluntarily” handed back a quarter of their first-half bonuses in anticipation of what is expected to be the company’s worst quarterly profit for two years.

The decision to return some of the bonus was partly a gesture to demonstrate that managers are taking responsibility for the earnings decline, and partly a way to show that management will work harder, the source told Reuters on Friday, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

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Samsung misses analyst estimates, reports $7.1 billion in operating profit for Q2

Chance Miller Jul 7 2014 - 5:34 pm PT

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Photo: ibtimes.com

After warning earlier this month that Q2 didn’t “look too good,” Samsung today released its earnings preview for the second quarter of 2014. The South Korean company reported an operating profit of $7.1 billion (7.2 trillion won), missing analyst estimates of $8 billion (8.1 trillion won). This comes out to a 24 percent drop year over year (via Bloomberg).

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