Xiaomi — the company that originally made its name as “the Apple of China” — broke out of its home market and became a household name in India shortly after its debut in 2014. Its initial, rapid success was with phones, but that gave Chinese company the velocity to take on other product categories, where it became a big player in wearables, smart TVs and IoT devices. Within two years, it was even investing in Indian startups and making a move into consumer lending services.
But now, as Beijing-based Xiaomi approaches its ninth year in the country with 200 million smartphones shipped, its earlier mover advantages are eroding: it lost its top position in smartphone shipments in Q4 2022; it faces regulatory pressure in the country amid growing economic tensions between China and India; and it’s wound down some of its newer business ventures. On top of all that, Xiaomi is seeing an exodus of executives in India.
Counterpoint Research numbers from January show that Xiaomi’s India smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 24% year-on-year. …
