Xiaomi’s sales miss 2015 goal
Print Edition
SMARTPHONE maker Xiaomi Inc said yesterday that it shipped more than 70 million handsets in 2015, undershooting its own target and casting doubts about the growth prospects of China’s most valuable tech startup in a cut-throat market.
Xiaomi had estimated total annual sales of 80-100 million units, but then in July reported semi-annual sales that for the first time were lower than the previous six months, with analysts saying its main domestic market was rapidly becoming saturated.
A spokeswoman for the company once pipped as Apple Inc’s biggest rival in China declined to say why sales had missed the target, adding that the 70 million figure “puts us as the top smartphone manufacturer in China in terms of market share for the year of 2015.”
Xiaomi is facing stiff competition from more established firms such as Lenovo Group and Huawei Technologies Co at home and its plans to expand abroad in emerging markets such as India and Brazil have hit intellectual property hurdles.
Executives have also acknowledged that the five-year-old startup’s thin portfolio is a major weakness.
“For Xiaomi, the smartphone is still its biggest product line and generates around 90 percent of their revenue,” said tech analyst Neil Shah of Counterpoint Research.
Xiaomi’s annual sales growth for the year was 14.5 percent, he said, still above the average overall annual market growth of 12 percent. Shah forecast 2016 growth at 16 percent, based on hopes that Xiaomi will start sales in the US, Latin America and eastern Europe.
Xiaomi said it will this year set up a laboratory for future technologies that will involve research and development of virtual reality and robotics.
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