Companies are fighting for mobile phone sales supremacy or at least, a part of them. Xiaomi’s global VP Hugo Barra recently talked about the company’s shift in focus, implying smartphone profit is of little concern to them #mobilemagic
In an interview with Reuters, Barra explained that “Basically we’re giving handsets to you without making any money… we care about the recurring revenue streams over many years. […] We could sell 10 billion smartphones and we wouldn’t make a single dime in profits”. That’s a surprising statement from a company who has released several Mi, Mi Note and Redmi mobile phones just this year. The reason behind it might be Xiaomi’s strong presence in the home devices market and its software ecosystem offering.
This spring, Xiaomi’s co-founder and VP Liu De said that the sales of home devices are expected to double this year, reaching 10 billion yuan (approx. $1.5 billion). Put this in the context of their declining phone sales (global target missed by 12% last year and in China, by 45% in Q3) and you’ll understand why the executives have this laid-back approach to smartphone profit.
Nevertheless, the company is preparing to enter the US market next year. Xiaomi is going to globally launch a new device at their first CES 2017 attendance.
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