Xiaomi Smart Speaker Sales Cross 22 Million, New Model Launching on May 21

Xiaomi has seen a lot of success with smart speakers powered by its Xiao AI virtual assistant in China. Now, the company is looking to further expand its portfolio by launching a brand new smart speaker in the country on May 21, i.e. tomorrow, according to a post on its official Weibo account. In its post on the Chinese microblogging platform, Xiaomi also announced that its smart speaker shipments have crossed 22 million units till date.

While Xiaomi's announcement teaser didn't include any details about the upcoming smart speaker, in another Weibo post, a company teaser revealed the presence of a metal mesh of the new smart speaker, something it will be a first for Xiaomi smart speakers. The company also noted the support to connect two smart speakers to offer stereo sound. One more teaser showed the top of the upcoming smart speaker with mute, play/ pause, and volume buttons. An LED light can also be seen in the teasers.

It is not known as to what Xiaomi will launch along with the new smart speaker. The pricing and key specifications of the upcoming smart speaker remain a mystery. Given the launch is just a day away, we won't have to wait for long.

To recall, Xiaomi's Xiao AI virtual assistant was introduced in 2018, along with the Mi Mix 2S smartphone. Currently in its third generation, the Xiao AI virtual assistant comes with Xiaomi's smart home products like the Redmi AI Speaker Play, Xiaomi XiaoAI Mini TV, the Redmi Smart Display, and Xiaomi's Touchscreen Speaker, among other things.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi is preparing some launches or its own later this month. As we have reported, Redmi brand will launch three new RedmiBook laptops, Redmi TV models, and a Redmi phone.

Which is the bestselling Vivo smartphone in India? Why has Vivo not been making premium phones? We interviewed Vivo's director of brand strategy Nipun Marya to find out, and to talk about the company's strategy in India going forward. We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.