[News] Xiaomi enters France and Italy, marking further expansion in Western Europe

Slated to shake up new Western European markets with amazing products at honest pricing

Partners with four major local telecoms operators in France to bring in a broad spectrum of hardware products via online and offline retail channels

Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing, 22 May 2018 — Global technology leader Xiaomi took a major step forward in its global expansion today by announcing its arrival in France and its imminent arrival in Italy two days later. This comes just six months after its official entry into Spain, its first Western European market, where in Q1 2018 it had already become the #3 smartphone vendor[1].

Today Xiaomi has entered 74 markets globally. As per Canalys, Xiaomi was Europe’s #4 smartphone brand by shipments in Q1 2018, with YoY growth of over 999%[2].. In Q1 2018, Xiaomi was also the #1 smartphone vendor in India with a market share of 30.3%[3] and the #2 smartphone vendor in Indonesia, with YoY growth of 1,455%[4].

Xiaomi is bringing to France all three parts of its “triathlon” business model, which comprises three synergistic pillars of growth—(i) innovative, high quality and well-designed hardware focused on exceptional user experience, (ii) highly efficient new retail allowing for our products to be priced accessibly and (iii) engaging internet services.

This includes its very own e-commerce site Mi.com and the first Authorized Mi Store in Paris. In addition, it has partnered with e-commerce platforms such as Cdiscount, Amazon, Auchan, Boulager, FNAC, DARTY and Carrefour, and with local offline retailers, including FNAC and DARTY, to present a broad range of innovative products across France.

The company is also cooperating with four major French telecoms operators Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free, to offer users an attractive option to renew their smartphones.

Xiaomi has successfully achieved a foothold in key international markets as it accelerates its expansion globally. For example, as of 31 March 2018, it ranked among the top five smartphone players in India and 15 other markets, according to IDC. In 2017, Xiaomi’s international sales reached RMB32.1 billion, or 28.0% of its total revenue, compared to RMB9.1 billion in 2016.

Alongside smartphones Xiaomi is also the world’s largest consumer IoT platform in terms of the number of connected devices (excluding smartphones and laptops), with more than 100 million connected devices. This translates to a 1.7% global market share of consumer IoT hardware by number of connected devices as of December 31, 2017, versus 0.9% for Apple and Amazon, and 0.6% for Google. The sales of consumer IoT hardware globally grew from US$306.3 billion in 2015 to US$485.9 billion in 2017, representing a CAGR of 26.0%. This is expected to reach US$1,550.2 billion by 2022, representing a CAGR of 26.1%[5].

In addition, Xiaomi is an Internet platform that leverages the sale of its hardware to acquire users at a profit, compared to other internet platforms that acquire new users at high costs.

Xiaomi provides Internet services to give its users a complete mobile Internet experience. As of March 2018, it had approximately 190 million monthly active users on MIUI, its proprietary operating system built on the Android kernel, and 38 apps with more than 10 million MAUs and 18 apps with more than 50 million MAUs, including Mi Browser, Mi Music and Mi Video apps. Its users spent an average of approximately 4.5 hours per day on its smartphones in March 2018.

For more information about Xiaomi, visit http://blog.mi.com/, and for more information on the products available in France, visit http://www.mi.com/fr.

[1]. Canalys: https://twitter.com/Canalys/status/996031220390690816

[2]. Canalys: https://canalys.com/newsroom/smartphone-shipments-fall-63-europe-q1-2018

[3]. IDC: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP43810918

[4]. Canalys estimates: Smartphone analysis, May 2018

[5]. Source: iResearch