The Xiaomi company has launched Discovery Lab which will conduct research and test on artificial intelligence , virtual reality, as the Chinese smartphone company is preparing to enhance its technological capabilities, as stated by the founder Lei Jun.
Discovery, technology and innovation are the heart of the Xiaomi company. The creation of Xiaomi Discovery Lab is another step to improve our company.
Yesterday Lei Jun said this during an interview with a national television station in Wuzhen.
A couple of months ago we attended the launching of a viewer for virtual reality by the company, which has hopes of reaching the top five in the sales chart. It has not been specified, however, whether it is the top five globally or only in China, but the viewer We VR is already giving good results.
Xiaomi has also invested heavily in the field of artificial intelligence, although to date we have not yet witnessed any product, perhaps the victim ruthless competition of rivals and the competitive tactics put in place. Mr. Jun acknowledged that his company has not made any new funding for a long time and this has also affected the development of this new technology. The last investment Xiaomi received was from Ratan Tata, emeritus president of Indian Tata Sons conglomerate, in April of 2015.
Currently the biggest challenge for Xiaomi is to expand its presence also in other states outside of China. Lei Jun admitted that Xiaomi's global market share has dropped at 4,5% half of 2016 from 4,7% in 2015 and 5,1% of 2014, while rival Oppo, which has a strong expansion beyond all of China, became the fourth-largest smartphone maker in the world, with a 5,4% market share in mid-2016.
Xiaomi has been focused on opening new chain stores Mi Home during the past year, as according to Lei Jun it is important to have a rich collection of varied and current products for consumers.
