Xiaomi Reportedly Planning to Expand Its Smartphone Portfolio to Boost Sales

Xiaomi is reportedly planning to add more smartphones to its portfolio, specifically in the mid and high-range, in order to improve its domestic performance in China. The Chinese smartphone maker has been struggling in terms of smartphone shipments in the domestic market and came in at fourth place in Q4 2016 as per a recent report by Singapore-based market research firm Canalys.

The company is planning to add more phones to its mid-tier and high-end models as it is facing stiff competition from other Chinese manufacturers like Oppo, Huawei, and Vivo, as per a report by Digitimes. Even though the company has already released its Mi Note 2 and Mi Mix smartphones, its sales have still been below market expectations in the first quarter of 2017, Digitimes said citing industry sources.

In order to improve management of its supply chain, Xiaomi is reportedly considering new suppliers for some parts and components, as per the report. The company has been tipped to buy display panels for its phones from Truly Opto-electronics.

Xiaomi is reportedly also planning to unveil its next-generation Mi 5c smartphone, which has been tipped to be powered by its in-house Pinecone V670 CPUs in March, as per the report.

As per the report by Canalys, in terms of smartphone shipments in Q4 2016 in China, Huawei topped the list followed by Oppo and Vivo. Xiaomi and Apple came in at fourth and fifth place respectively.

Huawei shipped 76.2 million units in China's smartphone market in 2016, followed by Oppo with 73.2 million units and Vivo with 63.2 million. Interestingly, the company continues to perform extremely well in the Indian market despite weak performance in China.