Chinese manufacturing giant, Xiaomi, enjoyed a huge acceptance rate last year, especially from India. This is coming after the company suffered a frigid 2016. As at the end of last year, IDC data showed that the Chinese tech giant shipped 92.4 million smartphones which is almost twice the 50 million units it shipped in 2016 and this catapulted the company into the top five manufacturers in the world. Now, sources close to the industry estimate that Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments in 2018 are expected to exceed 100 million units for the first time. Nevertheless, the increase relative to its last year performance will be only 10% but this depends on its performance in China.
As of now, Xiaomi is a very pretty face in the smartphone manufacturing industry. The likes of Foxconn, Inventec, Dali Optoelectronics, TSMC and others all hope to obtain more orders from the company. Of course, after Lei Jun took over its management, it now attaches great importance to the supply chain. Lin Xiaobin, the president of Xiaomi, recently visited Dali Optoelectronics, allegedly hoping to further ensure the productivity and supply of camera modules, especially the dual cameras on high-end models.
At the same time, TSMC is using the 16nm process to manufacture Xiaomi’s second-generation autonomous processor, the Surge S2, and the initial order volume is quite high. However, with the enhanced R&D capabilities of the Xiaomi chip, it is expected to add more orders later. TSMC’s next-generation 7nm processor for Qualcomm (Snapdragon 855) will also feature on a Xiaomi phone. In addition, Xiaomi attaches great importance to the Indian market. In the fourth quarter of 2017, it surpassed Samsung as the largest brand in the country and has established a new PCB factory in cooperation with Foxconn.
