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People check new products of Xiaomi ahead of the 2023 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 26, 2023. Demand in the world's biggest smartphone market has long been in decline, with the COVID-19 pandemic and then a faltering economic recovery persuading customers to wait longer before upgrading their phones. IDC predicts the Chinese market is on track to achieve year-on-year sales growth in the fourth quarter after ten consecutive quarters of decline. U.S. chip designer Qualcomm also said last week that it is seeing strong demand from smartphone companies, especially in China. The Mi 14 series, priced between 3,999 yuan and 6,499 yuan ($550-$890), represents an attempt by Xiaomi to make deeper inroads into the premium smartphone market and compete with Apple (AAPL.O) and Huawei.

Persons: Nacho, Lei Jun, Will Wong, Qualcomm, Xiaomi, Yelin Mo, Brenda Goh, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, HK, Weibo, IDC, Huawei, Apple, Thomson Locations: Barcelona, Spain, Rights BEIJING, China, U.S

☆ Chinese consumer stocks that analysts like for their global potential
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"We expect Miniso to report another strong quarter in 1QFY24," Jefferies analysts wrote in an Oct. 24 report. Xiaomi shares are up more than 20% so far this year despite a more than 10% slump in the broader Hong Kong stock market. "We believe good shipment momentum and resilient margins could support a strong 3Q23," the Morgan Stanley report said. The analysts have an overweight rating on Xiaomi shares with a 15 Hong Kong dollar price target — up 11% from Friday's close. Shares of Transsion, not covered in the Morgan Stanley report, are up nearly 70% so far this year.

Persons: Miniso, Jefferies, Xiaomi, Morgan Stanley, Canalys, Morgan, Andre Chang, Chang, —, JD.com —, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Hong Kong Locations: 1QFY24, China, New York, Hong Kong, Canalys, Friday's, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Africa, India, Morgan China

☆ Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi releases a new operating system as it plans car integration
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING — Chinese smartphone and appliance maker Xiaomi announced late Thursday a new operating system — as it seeks to develop its ecosystem with the imminent release of its own car. Xiaomi shares rose more than 1% in Hong Kong trade Friday morning, building on gains of more than 20% for the year so far. The new system, called HyperOS, is set to reach consumers Oct. 31 when Xiaomi's latest phones, wearables and TV sets begin sales in China. "The system marks a pivotal move forward in Xiaomi's strategic vision of delivering the 'Human x Car x Home' smart ecosystem," the company said in a release. CEO and founder Lei Jun said on Chinese social media Wednesday that Xiaomi would release its car in the first half of next year.

Persons: Lei Jun Organizations: Xiaomi Locations: BEIJING, Hong Kong, China

☆ Chinese AI startup Baichuan raises $300 mln from Alibaba, Tencent, others
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG/BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Baichuan has raised $300 million from investors including Chinese tech giants Alibaba (9988.HK) and Tencent (0700.HK), it said on Tuesday. The company said on its WeChat account that the round followed an early $50 million angel round. China's craze over generative AI has triggered a flurry of product and fundraising announcements from startups and tech giants, as the industry races to find a homegrown rival to Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT. Shunwei Capital, a venture capital firm chaired by Xiaomi's chief executive Lei Jun, participated in the capital raise, according to a source familiar with the matter. Baidu (9888.HK) on Tuesday unveiled the newest version of its generative AI model, Ernie 4.0, saying its capabilities were on par with OpenAI's pioneering GPT-4 model, but analysts cautioned the launch lacked major highlights versus the previous version.

Persons: Wang Xiaochuan, Baichuan, Lei Jun, Shunwei, Ernie, Josh Ye, Roxanne Liu, Jason Neely, Emelia Organizations: HK, Microsoft, Shunwei, Baidu, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, BEIJING, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ Xiaomi revenue drops but EV strategy ahead of schedule
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sales dropped to 67.4 billion yuan ($9.2 billion) from 70.17 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, but beating analysts' estimates of 65.13 billion. Net income rose to 5.14 billion yuan over the period, an increase of 147% from 2.08 billion yuan a year earlier, also beating expectations. "Despite the macroeconomic headwinds in the global market we continue to expand our footprint," Xiaomi President Lu Weibing said on an earnings call. Lu said the company's plans to start mass production of EVs in the first half of 2024 remains unchanged. "Our current progress is ahead of expectations and of the original production schedule," he said.

Persons: Lu Weibing, Lu, Stringer, Canalys, David Kirton, Mo Yelin, Louise Heavens, David Holmes Organizations: Xiaomi Corp, HK, REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: SHENZHEN, China, Shenyang, Liaoning province, India, Shenzhen, Mo, Beijing

☆ Exclusive: China's Xiaomi wins state planner nod to make EVs amid glut in autos
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Julie Zhu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A man walks past a logo of Xiaomi, a Chinese manufacturer of consumer electronics, outside a shop in Mumbai, India, May 11, 2022. Xiaomi, which owns the world's third largest smartphone brand by shipments, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Xiaomi plans to produce about 100,000 EVs next year, said one of the sources. But Xiaomi, which reported an 18.9% drop in its latest quarterly revenue in May, has its own compulsions for foraying into EVs. Xiaomi plans to use the thousands of stores it has as showrooms for its electric cars, Reuters previously reported.

Persons: Francis Mascarenhas, HONG KONG, Xiaomi, Tesla, NDRC, MIIT, Lei Jun, Julie Zhu, Muralikumar Organizations: REUTERS, Xiaomi Corp, HK, National Development, Reform Commission, EV, Ministry of Industry, Reuters, Lucid, Beijing Daily, China Passenger Car Association, Thomson Locations: Mumbai, India, HONG, Beijing, Shanghai, Reuters U.S, China, China ., EVs

☆ Factbox: India's measures targeting Chinese products and investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Relations between the countries have deteriorated since mid-2020, when Chinese and Indian troops clashed on their disputed Himalayan frontier and 24 people were killed. Several Indian government officials, who asked not to be named, said the licensing measure aimed to address a trade imbalance with China. Here are some other Chinese trade and investment ventures affected by Indian measures since 2020:INVESTMENT PLAN BY BYDChina's BYD (002594.SZ) told its India joint-venture partner last month it would shelve plans for a new $1-billion investment to build electric cars after its investment proposal faced scrutiny from New Delhi. It has led to billions of dollars in proposed investment getting stuck in the approval process over the last 3 years. Reporting by Aftab Ahmed Editing by William Mallard and Helen PopperOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Nick Carey, Xiaomi, China's Tencent, Aftab Ahmed, William Mallard, Helen Popper Our Organizations: REUTERS, Wall, Krafton Inc, South, HK, Thomson Locations: Farnborough, Britain, India, China, New Delhi, HK, South Korean

But while 44% of India's smartphones sales are now online, the brick-and-mortar segment remains the bigger play and Xiaomi expects it to grow further. "Our market position in offline is substantially lower than what it is online," Xiaomi's India head, Muralikrishnan B., said in an interview on Friday. The South Korean giant has a 20% market share in India, while Xiaomi, which historically focussed on budget phones, has 16%. Xiaomi plans to hire more store promoters - salespeople who lure, pitch and sell phones to prospective buyers inside outlets. Another significant India challenge for Xiaomi is a federal agency's $673 million freeze on its bank assets since last year.

Persons: Xiaomi, Flipkart, Muralikrishnan, Tarun Pathak, We'll, Aditya Kalra, Munsif Vengattil, William Mallard Organizations: DELHI, HK, South, Samsung, Research, Thomson Locations: India, Hong Kong

An appellate authority at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued the so-called show cause notices under India's foreign exchange laws for alleged illegal remittances of 55.51 billion rupees ($673.2 million). India alleges Xiaomi's local unit made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments. The notices were issued to Xiaomi and officials including the chief financial officer of its India unit, the ED said in a statement. The banks received notices because they allegedly allowed foreign remittances described as royalty payments without conducting due diligence and obtaining necessary documentation, the agency added. Court documents show Xiaomi's frozen assets are spread across accounts at various banks including Deutsche, Citi and HSBC.

Persons: Xiaomi, Aditya Kalra, Shubhendu Deshmukh, Shounak Dasgupta, Jamie Freed Organizations: HK, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Citigroup, Reuters, Deutsche, Citi, Samsung Electronics, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India

☆ India court rejects Xiaomi's challenge to $676 mln asset freeze - Live Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, April 21 (Reuters) - A court in India's Karnataka state has rejected China-based Xiaomi Corp's (1810.HK) petition challenging the seizure of 55.51 billion rupees ($676.35 million) by the Enforcement Directorate, news website Live Law reported on Friday. India's federal financial crime agency froze Xiaomi's assets last year, alleging the company had made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments. The company denies any wrongdoing. ($1 = 82.0725 Indian rupees)Reporting by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi's revenue and profit slides
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHANGHAI, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK) on Friday reported a record drop in fourth-quarter revenue as the company weathered a slowdown in consumption and disruptions due to China's COVID-19 curbs. Xiaomi's sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 reached 66.05 billion yuan ($9.6 billion), down 22.8% from 85.58 billion yuan a year earlier. Net income fell to 1.46 billion over the period, down 67.3% from 4.473 billion yuan a year earlier. The company's revenue for 2022 was 280.04 billion yuan, a drop of 14.7%, while net income came in at 8.52 billion yuan, down 61.4%. China's smartphone sales endured a record fall in 2022, down 14% to 287 million units, Canalys data shows.

While Xiaomi remained focused on selling mobile phones under 10,000 rupees ($120), Indian consumers were willing to pay up for better looking models with richer features. According to Counterpoint, the market share of the sub-$120 phones in India fell to 26% in 2022 from 41% two years ago. And premium phones - priced above 30,000 ($360) - saw their share double to 11% in the same period. Xiaomi and Samsung both count India as a key growth market, with smartphones their top selling electronic device. And premium phones accounted for only 0%-1% of Xiaomi's total India phone shipments in the last two years, when Samsung's higher-end phones more than doubled their share to 13%, Counterpoint data showed.

"Pre-installed apps can be a weak security point and we want to ensure no foreign nations, including China, are exploiting it. India has ramped up scrutiny of Chinese businesses since a 2020 border clash between the neighbours, banning more than 300 Chinese apps, including TikTok. Currently, most smartphones come with pre-installed apps that cannot be deleted, such as Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi's app store GetApps, Samsung's payment app Samsung Pay mini and iPhone maker Apple's browser Safari. While European Union regulations require allowing removal of pre-installed apps, it does not have a screening mechanism to check for compliance like India is considering. An industry executive said some pre-installed apps like the camera are critical to user experience and the government must make a distinction between these and non-essential ones when imposing screening rules.

☆ Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi takes aim at Samsung and Apple with latest $1,000 device
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Xiaomi is trying to push into the high end of the smartphone market with the Xiaomi 13 Pro. Xiaomi launched its flagship smartphone globally on Sunday as the Chinese electronics giant attempts to take a slice of the high-end market and challenge Apple and Samsung . The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro were originally launched in China in December, but now the Beijing, China-headquartered company is bringing the devices to markets overseas. The Xiaomi 13 Pro device sports a 6.73-inch display and the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset from U.S. firm Qualcomm . The Xiaomi 13 starts at 999 euros ($1,053) while the 13 Pro starts at 1,299 euros.

☆ Xiaomi demands payout from supplier after car designs leaked
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - China's Xiaomi <1810.HK) said on Thursday it had imposed a 1 million yuan ($149,000) penalty on a supplier after it leaked early design drafts of an upcoming car model. Xiaomi did not disclose the name of the company and Reuters could not identify it. As punishment, the smartphone-turned-car maker said it would impose "economic compensation" of 1 million yuan ($148,763) on the supplier. The spokesperson added it had instructed the supplier to strengthen its information security management, and develop plans to upgrade its confidentiality measures. The company has said it hopes to reach mass production of its cars in the first half of 2024.

☆ Smartphone maker Xiaomi to slash 10% of jobs amid China's COVID battle
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 20 (Reuters) - China's Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK) has started laying off workers in its smartphone and internet services business, joining a long list of Chinese tech firms cutting jobs as the country battles COVID-19 outbreaks. China's social media platforms, including Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Maimai, have been flooded with posts about the job cuts this week. Chinese local media first reported on Monday that the job cut would affect 15% of Xiaomi's payroll, citing unnamed sources. Xiaomi in November reported a 9.7% fall in third-quarter revenue, hit by China's COVID-19 restrictions and softening consumer demand. Revenue from smartphones, which make up roughly 60% of its total sales, fell 11% year-on-year, Xiaomi said.

☆ India court quashes tax dept's $448 mln block on Xiaomi's deposits -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Aditya Kalra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - An Indian court has quashed the income tax department's block on China-based Xiaomi Corp's (1810.HK) fixed deposits worth 37 billion rupees ($447.65 million), two people familiar with court proceedings said on Friday. Xiaomi and the income tax department did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Indian tax officials froze the funds in February as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion. read moreThe investigation concerned allegations that the Chinese company purchased smartphones from its contract manufacturers at inflated costs in India, allowing it to record a smaller profit by selling them to customers and evading corporate income taxes, Reuters reported in May. A court is yet to pronounce a decision on the case following Xiaomi's challenge.

Xiaomi India did not share the agreement with the bank due to confidentiality reasons, Deutsche told investigators, according to the documents. A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Qualcomm, in a statement, said under "the license with Qualcomm, Xiaomi India pays royalties on all devices sold in India". In that statement, it said Xiaomi India was an affiliate and one of the Xiaomi Group companies, which entered into a legal agreement with Qualcomm. Indian authorities do not agree with that and say Xiaomi India only acts as a reseller of smartphones that are made by contract manufacturers.

☆ Xiaomi discontinues financial services business in India -TechCrunch
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK) is winding down its financial services business in India, TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The company recently pulled its Mi Pay and Mi Credit apps in India from the local Play Store and its own app store, the report said. Three years after its launch, Mi Pay, which allowed users to make bill payments and money transfers, is no longer listed among the recognized apps by regulatory body National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), TechCrunch said. Xiaomi and NPCI did not immediately did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment. In India, Xiaomi's strongest market outside of China, the company has been subject to government probes for allegedly dodging tax regulators.

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