With the release of the Xiaomi Mi 6 19 April, the popular Engadget technology site interviewed senior vice president of Xiaomi, Wang Xiang, to find out what the Chinese company's plans for the official sale of its smartphones in the US are, smartphones they are always doing more appealing also to users outside the home country.
Wang Xiang succeeded Hugo Barra as Vice President of Global while continuing to inspect the company's supply chain and intellectual property, but contrary to what Barra himself suggested that 2017 was a possible year in which one was launched. smartphone in the United States, has been reluctant to provide a period of time, even if he is well aware of the "Mi Fans" around the world who go so far as to buy Xiaomi products from unofficial channels.
The reasons given by Wang resume that at the moment Xiaomi's resources, between supply chain and manpower, are already maximized by serving 30 regions, most of which are developing markets and which has allowed Xiaomi, sales figures in hand, to become the No. 2 in India and No. 3 in Ukraine, Indonesia and Myanmar. “What we're looking for is a mass market, massive impact, as opposed to a more elite, premium deal. We want innovation for everyone. " says Wang Xiang. Demand in the countries mentioned will likely continue to grow and the company plans to open more authorized stores. At the same time, Xiaomi faced supply problems in China, "Therefore, we are in no rush to serve already developed markets," added Wang.
On top of this, add the fact that the US smartphone market is driven by phone operators who require customization based on their networks and a series of tedious tests that require time that the engineering team does not currently have and would do. hard to follow. Despite this, they still often remain in contact to sift through the right opportunities for a potential launch.
Xiaomi would be able to follow the same path as OnePlus or Honor of Huawei, selling directly to users in Europe and the United States. But according to the VP this would be a shaky move because Xiaomi does not want to burn bridges with operators or want a quick gain that could potentially ruin seven years of hard work to "build the brand" because of a poor preparation.
Wang adds: "There is a Chinese proverb that says, 'The haste does damage'. You have to concentrate, have patience and wait for the perfect opportunity. "
We recall that Xiaomi already sells accessories in America such as batteries, headphones, speakers, TV boxes, and hopes to export other popular Mijia brand products such as baking and Ninebot scooters. With regard to smartphones, one of the most global remains the My Notes 2 which supports well 37 radio bands to cover around the entire world. Wang also said that the company will continue to release at least one or two of these "global" terminals each year, along with the successor to Mi Mix at a certain point.
For the moment, for us irriducible fans there is only then to buy our smartphones through the usual channels of always.
While I was writing this article originally written by Engadget, another came out on the equally prestigious technology magazine CNET.com in which it was the same topic, that is the landing of Xiaomi in the USA, only that Wang Xiang is mentioned saying that the release of Xiaomi's smartphones in the United States is postponed for about two years, if not earlier.
However, the cautiousness of Senior VP Global and the desire of Xiaomi to achieve great results in the American continent remains.
