Xiaomi Records 100 Million Smartphone Shipments, Achieves Full-Year Target 2 Months Before Schedule

Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi on Saturday announced that it had shipped over 100 million smartphone units. With this milestone, the company reached its 2018 target more than two months ahead of schedule. This full-year target of shipping 100 million smartphone units was announced by Xiaomi founder and CEO, Lei Jun, back in November last year when the company was reported to have recorded consecutive months with shipments exceeding 10 million. Xiaomi has not revealed its shipment or sales targets for 2019 yet.

This announcement is expected to give respite to the Xiaomi Corporation stock that is trading at close to the HKD 12 (roughly Rs. 112) mark on the Hong Kong stock exchange. To recall, Xiaomi's IPO (Initial Public Offering) happened in July this year where the stock was listed on the market at a price of HKD 17 (around Rs. 159). The 100 million pre-achieved target might just boost investor confidence back into the technology brand known for selling cost effective smartphones.

A report from back in April had claimed that with roughly 10 million units a month, Xiaomi had plans to hit about 120-150 million smartphone shipments this year. While the actual target was set a little low, we might just see Xiaomi going on to hit the lower end of that reported target considering Singles' Day shopping season in China is just around the corner.

India has been a major part of the Chinese phone maker's global expansion. In the Indian market, the company has focused mostly on its budget Redmi handset series this year with phones like the Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi 6, Redmi 6A, and Redmi 6 Pro launched in the market in 2018.

Comparatively, another Chinese phone vendor, Huawei is making strides in terms of global shipments. In July this year, the company announced that it had already shipped 100 million smartphone units and aimed to cross even the 200 million mark by the end of the year. Huawei mobile chief Richard Yu Chengdong said that shipments had grown 51 times compared to seven years ago.