Apple rival Xiaomi could enter US smartphone market later in 2018

Xiaomi is aiming to enter the U.S. smartphone market by the end of 2018, or early 2019 at the latest, the Chinese company's chairman said on Monday, speaking on the sidelines of China's yearly legislative session in Beijing.

"We've always been considering entering the U.S. market," Lei Jun told the Wall Street Journal. "We plan to start entering the market by end 2018, or by early 2019."

It will still need a local carrier to sell its phones and establish traction, which could be a serious obstacle. While another Chinese firm, ZTE, ranked as the fourth-biggest smartphone vendor in the U.S. in 2017, both it and Huawei have received pushback from the U.S. government due to national security concerns. Huawei in fact lost a deal with AT&T to sell its latest Android flagship, the Mate 10 Pro.

Xiaomi isn't as big in the phone world as some of its Chinese competitors, but still outsells Apple's iPhone in China, and already has a presence in the U.S. with other products like cameras and speakers. It's unlikely to overtake Apple in the U.S. homeland, but could divert some shoppers wanting affordable alternatives.

The Chinese smartphone market is largely controlled by local firms — Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi being the top four. Apple is in fifth in the market, and even Samsung is a relatively minor player, sitting in eighth.

12 Comments

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

About 6 years ago

Doubt they could make a go of it with all of thei patent infringements. I imagine their products would immediately be banned.

muthuk_vanalingam 1367 comments · 8 Years

Since when did Xiaomi become "competitor" to Apple???? They are targeting exact "opposite" end of the smartphone market, with Xiaomi taking the lion's share of low-budget (<$200) devices and Apple taking the lion's share of high-budget (>$600) devices.

randominternetperson 3095 comments · 8 Years

muthuk_vanalingam said:

Since when did Xiaomi become "competitor" to Apple???? They are targeting exact "opposite" end of the smartphone market, with Xiaomi taking the lion's share of low-budget (<$200) devices and Apple taking the lion's share of high-budget (>$600) devices.

Exactly.I was going to make a similar comment about the "rival" label in the headline.

supadav03 503 comments · 10 Years

Couple things:

I think calling them an “Apple Rival” is giving them WAY too much credit.

Secondly, I doubt how successful they will be in the US. Brand recognition is huge here and they will have a tough time with that. Also, as noted in the article, there is a lot of concern about Chinese tech companies and spyware/hacking. They are facing a uphill battle. Would expect Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola & Google to sell more flagship units in the US than Xiaomi.

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

SpamSandwich said:

Doubt they could make a go of it with all of thei patent infringements. I imagine their products would immediately be banned.

I suspect the same thing, Apple most likely will tie them up in court for a while. Then again, Apple may be forced to play nice, if they want to keep their advantage in China. The Chinese Government may not look to kindly on Apple trying to shut them down. Xiaomi sells in other parts of the world and Apple has not gone after them elsewhere. Apple could see them as they are not going after the apple installed based so they do not care.