Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc. plans to target India as part of its expansion into ten emerging markets in 2014, the company said Thursday.
Xiaomi is the latest Chinese company to venture into the South Asian nation where sales of smartphones are surging as more Indians are using their phones to browse the Internet, watch videos, listen to music and play games.
In the past 12 months two other Chinese companies – Gionee Communication Equipment Co. Ltd, and Oppo Mobiles – have started selling their smartphones in India.
“The Indian smartphone market will grow more in the next five years than any other market that Xiaomi is currently targeting,” said Rohan Dhamija head of South Asia at Analysys Mason, a telecom consulting firm. “I think the company is just planting a seed in the Indian market to get ready in a couple of years when it really takes off.”
In China, the world’s largest market for smartphones, Xiaomi has a 5% market share. It has overtaken Apple Inc.AAPL +0.73% there by selling smartphones at almost half the price of Apple’s cheapest iPhone.
Apart from global brands such as Samsung Electronics Co.005930.SE -0.79% and HTCCorp.2498.TW -1.30% Xiaomi will face competition from low-cost Indian cellphone companies Micromax Informatics Ltd, and Karbonn Mobiles, and its other peers Lenovo Group0992.HK -0.91%, ZTE Corp.000063.SZ +0.31% and Huawei Telecommunications Co. who have an established presence in India.