In 2017, Xiaomi came out of nowhere and replaced Samsung as the number one smartphone brand in India. Samsung had dominated the smartphone market in India since the last 8 years, but that wasn’t the only reason this was surprising. Xiaomi itself had the worst year of its lifetime in 2016 - from being the number 1 brand in China, it dropped to number 5. By next year, however, it had staged a remarkable comeback, leading some to dub Xiaomi the “Chinese Phoenix.”
Let’s explore the reasons behind Xiaomi’s great popularity and success in the last 5 years:
1) Great Prices- Xiaomi offers phenomenal features at very affordable prices. Xioami understands that the Indian customer is savvy, and will conduct deep research before putting down the money for any product. Further, as smartphones are changing in form, function and power every year, people like to get mid-range phones and replace them with newer models when they appear. Xioami understands this thought-process, and therefore offers feature-laden phones at competitive prices. For example, Redmi 8 from Xiaomi is perhaps the mobile phone under 10000. It boasts of a 4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal memory, and a dual sim card slot - features that will be more than enough to satisfy the mobile needs of a vast majority of Indians.
2) Diversification- Xiaomi offers a diverse range of products - and not just different smartphones. Xiaomi does offer 6000mah battery mobile phones for gamers and heavy users, and impressive camera specs for photography enthusiasts. But Xiaomi also is the number one manufacturer of smart fitness bands in the world. Further, Xiaomi is also the world’s leading manufacturer of power banks that allow people to charge their phones on the go. Therefore, Xioami has built an ecosystem of tech devices around their core smartphone business. This has allowed Xiaomi to expand their business and sell multiple products to the same consumer.
3) Tech Advancements- Xiaomi was the first company in the world to come up with a bezel-less phone in 2016. Last year, Xiaomi showed a concept phone whose screen doesn’t only go top to bottom, but also around the phone - in effect creating a phone that is nothing but one giant display. Therefore, Xiaomi is not resting on its laurels - it continues to innovate and expand its share of the smartphone market.
