The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has recently expanded into Western Europe, and this time it has planned to enter the US market by the end of 2018, or early 2019 at the latest. The Chairman of the company on Monday announced that the company is eyeing the US market as a part of its planned expansion.
We’ve always been considering entering the U.S. market. We plan to start entering the market by end 2018, or by early 2019. – Lei Jun
Breaking into the US market, where it sells a number of products like speakers, Android TV set-top boxes, Mi TV, headphone models, a battery pack, a 360-degree camera, and many more, is not going to be easy. The company doesn’t formally sell smartphones, as it is to face challenges from established brands like Apple and Samsung.
The company is not a big competitor as many others in China but still outsells Apple’s iPhone in China. Xiaomi’s success in the US market will depend on the carriers. ZTE, another fourth-biggest smartphone vendor, has partnered with US carriers and has a healthy share of the market as a result. It will also need to navigate potential concerns from US intelligence officials, as it has been warned by the heads of the FBI, CIA, and NSA that American citizens should avoid products made by Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE.
Huawei was also to launch the new Mate 10 Pro flagship in the US through AT&T but got canceled just before its announcement. Xiaomi is to skip such a scenario which is why the Chinese tech company has taken a slow approach to the US market.
