Today, Xiaomi held its first Mi Fan event in New York City where the company's goal was to create buzz about the Chinese brand that is slowly entering the US market. Less than 700 Mi Fans registered to attend the two-day event where Xiaomi showed off various products that the company offers around the world.

Through tomorrow, Saturday December 8, Xiaomi is showing off its latest smartphones: the Mi MIX 3, the Mi A2, the Xiaomi Mi 8, and the POCOPHONE F1 - which is still the best value smartphone with a Snapdragon 845 CPU.

The event also showcased the Mi Home app and its compatible products like smart bulbs, smart plugs, lamps, and a laser projector - in total, Xiaomi exhibited over 50 ecosystem products including cameras, and toys which are all connected to Xiaomi's IoT plaform.

Xiaomi's offerings in the US

As part of the celebration, Xiaomi is offering the Mi Box S - which has been available from Walmart for a while now - for just $40. It does everything a Chromecast Ultra can do but it also comes with a voice remote that's compatible with Google Assistant and it supports Android TV apps.

Xiaomi has already been selling a few products at Walmart, but three of the new products coming to Walmart were shown at the event:

Mi Wireless Charging Pad: which was first introduced with the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S.

which was first introduced with the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S. Mi Robot Builder Rober: A 1,086 piece kit that can be built as a rover, tank, or a bulldozer

A 1,086 piece kit that can be built as a rover, tank, or a bulldozer Mi Home Security Camera: home surveillance camera with 360-degree view controllable with Mi Home app

This was a good and bad year for Chinese companies: ZTE was banned from the US and Huawei hardware is strictly banned from government and carrier use. On the plus side, OnePlus launched the 6T on T-Mobile, putting the widely unknown (to Americans) Chinese brand into carrier stores and Xiaomi sees positive reception to brand.

Xiaomi's strategy of bringing lifestyle and home products before bringing smartphones is a great idea. The smartphone market is so saturated in the US already so building rapport with the brand first is a great way to eventually introduce its smartphones once Xiaomi thinks the US market is ready.

Check out Xiaomi's US website to see what products it already offers.