Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has outdone itself — by selling 18.7 million smartphones in 2013, up 160 percent from a year earlier and more than its initial target of 15 million devices. In December itself, the company sold 3.22 million smartphones.
Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun announced the statistics on his Sina Weibo account today, revealing that it also hauled in total sales of CNY31.6 billion ($5.2 billion), up 150 percent from last year. This figure isn’t indicative of profit, but it is still remarkable considering that Xiaomi released its first device as recently as 2011.
During the whole of 2012, Xiaomi sold 7.19 million smartphones and recorded CNY12.6 billion (about $2.08 billion) of revenue.
Xiaomi released four smartphones in total in 2013. In April, it launched the variants of its then-flagship smartphone, the Mi-2S and Mi-2A. Subsequently, it unveiled its lowest-priced phone yet in July — the $130 Hongmi. Following that, it launched its latest flagship Mi-3 device in September.
The company has been garnering success in mainland China by inspiring the loyalty of many consumers, building a fan base and launching competitively priced phones that, when released in phases, regularly sell out fast, often within minutes. In 2013, Xiaomi also notched up an impressive valuation of $10 billion in its latest funding round.
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Lei Jun has stated that the company expects to ship 40 million smartphones for the whole of this year.
Headline image via Xiaomi
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