Xiaomi rakes in US$2B sales in 2012, sells 7.19M phones
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has announced it has sold 7.19 million handsets in 2012, with the majority sold through its online store.
A Tencent Tech report Wednesday cited Xiaomi co-founder Li Wanqiang who said the company made 12.6 billion yuan (US$2 billion) in sales last year. Based on the figures, each Xiaomi handset sells for an average of 1,752 yuan (US$279).
Online sales made up 70 percent of the sales while the rest were through partnerships with carriers, Li said.
The report said Xiaomi aimed to sell more than 10 million phones in 2013. To acheive this, the company will expand overseas, starting with Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2013. The company plans to expand into the North American market around 2014 to 2015.
"2012 will mainly be the trial period when Xiaomi and our partners will find out how to sell overseas. The real period when we venture overseas is 2014," Li told the news site.
Xiaomi which has a cult following in China unveiled its the MI-Two in August last year. The phone started selling in October at 1,999 yuan (US$318).
On its Web site, Xiaomi announced that its custom Android user interface MIUI ROM has surpassed 10 million users. It added the Android ROM is supported on 30 different handsets.
Android handsets dominate China's smartphone market with domestic players driving the growth.