Xiaomi sold 61.12 million smartphones in 2014 and plans to spend this year expanding its presence on the international stage, company founder and CEO Jun Lei told his staff on Sunday.
The Chinese firm became the world’s third largest smartphone maker in the third quarter of last year, according to figures from Strategy Analytics. The analyst firm also noted that Xiaomi’s 18 million smartphones shipped in the three months to the end of September made it the world’s fifth largest vendor in the overall mobile phones market.
In a memo to staff, Lei said the 61.12 million smartphones sold in the full year represented an increase of 227% on 2013. He added that pre-tax sales in 2014 came in at 74.3 billion yuan (€10.1 billion), up 135% on-year, and noted that with the recent completion of a new round of financing Xiaomi is valued at US$45 billion (€37.5 billion).
The firm has just launched the Redmi 2, its first new smartphone of 2015, Lei said, suggesting there will be many more products to come as the year progresses.
Indeed, the company, which was launched in China in 2010 and came to the attention of overseas markets last year, has big ambitions for 2015 and beyond.
Lei indicated that further international expansion is on the cards. To date the vendor is present in seven markets outside of China, including India, where it launched last year and has since sold more than 1 million smart phones.
"We will move into more overseas markets this year," Lei said, without naming any countries in particular.
The company will make an effort to bring its Chinese technology products to a global audience so that "everyone in the world can enjoy the fun!" he said.
