Xiaomi

Xiaomi is a large technology company from China, based in Beijing. It makes many popular products, including smartphones, computers, and even electric cars. Xiaomi is known for offering high-quality technology at affordable prices, making it very popular around the world.

The company was started in 2010 by Lei Jun and a small group of friends. Their first smartphone came out in 2011, and soon after, Xiaomi became the leader in smartphone sales in China. Over the years, Xiaomi has grown to sell many kinds of gadgets, like watches, drones, and home cleaning machines.

Today, Xiaomi is one of the biggest smartphone sellers in the world, with millions of people using its devices every month. The company is proud of keeping its prices fair by working closely with its factories and offering special sales to its customers.

History

Xiaomi was started on April 6, 2010, by Lei Jun and six others. Lei Jun was not happy with phones from other companies and wanted to make a better one.

In August 2010, Xiaomi launched its first software system called MIUI. In August 2011, they launched their first phone, the Xiaomi Mi 1. Over the years, Xiaomi grew quickly, making many new phones and products. By 2025, Xiaomi became the third-largest phone seller in the world. They also started making electric cars and other technology products. In 2025, Xiaomi introduced new advanced computer chips and planning to spend a lot of money on artificial intelligence to make even better products.

Corporate affairs

Business trends

The key trends for Xiaomi are (as of the financial year ending December 31):

Corporate identity

Name etymology

Xiǎomǐ (小米) is the Chinese word for "millet". In 2011, its CEO Lei Jun suggested there are more meanings than just the "millet and rice". He linked the xiǎo (小, lit. 'small') part to the Buddhist concept that "a single grain of rice of a Buddhist is as great as a mountain", suggesting that Xiaomi wants to work from the little things, instead of starting by striving for perfection, while mǐ (米) is an acronym for "Mobile Internet" and also "mission impossible", referring to the obstacles encountered in starting the company. He also stated that he thinks the name is cute. In 2012 Lei Jun said that the name is about revolution and being able to bring innovation into a new area. Xiaomi's new "Rifle" processor has given weight to several sources linking the latter meaning to the Chinese Communist Party's "millet and rifle" (小米加步枪) revolutionary idiom during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Logo and mascot

Xiaomi's first logo consisted of a single orange square with the letters "MI" in white located in the center of the square. This logo was in use until 31 March 2021, when a new logo, designed by well-known Japanese designer Kenya Hara, replaced the old one, consisting of the same basic structure as the previous logo, but the square was replaced with a "squircle" with rounded corners instead, and with the letters "MI" remaining identical to the previous logo, along with a slightly darker hue.

Xiaomi's mascot, Mitu, is a white rabbit wearing an Ushanka (known locally as a "Lei Feng hat" in China) with a red star and a red pioneer tie around its neck. Later on, the red star on the hat was replaced by the company's logo.

Innovation and development

On 8 February 2022, Lei released a statement on Weibo to announce plans for Xiaomi to enter the high-end smartphone market and surpass Apple as the top seller of premium smartphones in China in three years. To achieve that goal, Xiaomi will invest US$15.7 billion in R&D over the next five years, and the company will benchmark its products and user experience against Apple's product lines.

According to a 2022 report by Canalys, Xiaomi leads Indian smartphone sales in Q1. Xiaomi is one of the leaders of the smartphone makers in India which maintains device affordability.

In 2022, Xiaomi announced and debuted the company's humanoid robot prototype to the public, while the current state of the robot is very limited in its abilities, the announcement was made to mark the companies ambitions to integrate AI into its product designs as well as develop their humanoid robot project into the future.

In the 2024 review of WIPO's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators Xiaomi was ranked as 5th in the world, with 315 designs in industrial design registrations being published under the Hague System during 2023.

In April 2025, Xiaomi released MiMo-7B reasoning model entering in the field of Artificial Intelligence Race.

Electric vehicles

In 2021, Xiaomi announced a US$10 billion investment into electric vehicles (EVs). In late 2023, Xiaomi Auto unveiled its first production vehicle, the Xiaomi SU7, and publicly announced a goal to become one of the five largest automakers in the world. On 28 March 2024, Xiaomi officially launched the SU7 sedan in Beijing. Xiaomi's SU7 was manufactured under contract with BAIC Group. Xiaomi obtained a production license for electric vehicles in July 2024, allowing it to independently manufacture its electric vehicles. Xiaomi's EV factory, located in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, is centered around its proprietary integrated die casting system, the Hyper Die-Casting 79100 Cluster. This reportedly allows the factory to produce an SU7 every 76 seconds when running at full capacity. In June 2025, Xiaomi launched the YU7, its first electric SUV. It surpassed 150,000 deliveries.

Real estate

Xiaomi Youth Apartments in Beijing and Nanjing for US$290 per month. 2658 fully furnished smart homes with Xiaomi white goods.

Partnerships

In 2021, Harman Kardon collaborated with Xiaomi for its newest smartphone; the Xiaomi Mi 11 series are the first smartphones to feature with Harman Kardon-tuned dual speaker setup.

In 2021, Xiaomi began collaborating with directors to create short films shot entirely using the Xiaomi Mi 11 line of phones. In 2022, they made two shorts with Jessica Henwick. The first, Bus Girl won several awards and was long-listed for Best British Short at the 2023 BAFTA.

In 2022, Leica Camera entered a strategic partnership with Xiaomi to jointly develop Leica cameras to be used in Xiaomi flagship smartphones, succeeding the partnership between Huawei and Leica. The first flagship smartphones under this new partnership were the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Xiaomi MIX Fold 2, launched in July and August 2022, respectively. In February 2026, the Mobile World Congress announced the Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi 17 Ultra, and be launched in the international market on 6 March 2026.

Xiaomi's mobile device manufacturing plant was inaugurated on 4 March 2022, to begin production in Pakistan. The plant was set up in conjunction with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited, an Air Link fully owned subsidiary. The production plant is located in Lahore. As of July 2022, the future of the plant is uncertain due to the 2021–2023 global supply chain crisis.

Reception and controversies

Business

Imitation of Apple Inc.

Some people said Xiaomi copied Apple Inc.. Xiaomi's leader, Lei Jun, tried to act like Steve Jobs by wearing similar clothes and speaking in the same way during product shows. Some critics in 2013 wondered how many of Xiaomi's products were truly new ideas.

Unlike Apple, Xiaomi lets users change settings using Google's Android system. Xiaomi also makes many different products, more than Apple does.

GNU license compliance

In 2018, Xiaomi faced criticism for not following rules about sharing computer code. This meant they were breaking laws in China. Later, in 2020, they started sharing the code on GitHub.

Privacy concerns and data collection

Because Xiaomi is based in China, they must share some information with the Chinese government. Some reports said Xiaomi sent private information to its own servers, but Xiaomi later let users choose whether to use this service.

In 2025, research showed that many apps from Xiaomi's store used weak security methods, which could let others see what users were doing.

Regulations and lawsuits

In 2012, Xiaomi had to fix its smart box because it did not follow rules in China.

In 2014, Taiwan said Xiaomi did not sell as many phones as they said during special sales events. They fined Xiaomi.

Also in 2014, a court in India stopped Xiaomi from selling some products because another company said Xiaomi broke their rules. Later, Xiaomi could sell some phones again.

In 2021, a company in the Netherlands said Xiaomi broke their rules, but in 2023, the case was stopped.

In 2021, another company said Xiaomi broke their rules about a robot vacuum, and Xiaomi said they did not.

In 2021, Lithuania said people should stop using Xiaomi phones because they might control what people see, but Xiaomi said this was not true.

In 2022, India looked at Xiaomi for breaking money rules, but later allowed them to continue normal business.

Sanctions

United States

In 2021, the United States said Xiaomi was linked to China's military, which stopped American companies from investing in them. Xiaomi argued they were not linked to the military and fought this decision in court. In 2021, they reached an agreement to be removed from this list. Xiaomi's leader said the United States' actions in 2021 were a reason they started making electric cars.

Ukraine

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Xiaomi stopped advertising in Russia but continued selling many phones there. In 2023, Ukraine said Xiaomi was supporting the war by staying in Russia, and some mobile companies in Finland stopped selling Xiaomi products.