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Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which has become a top brand in India within four years after its entry, says it is not worried about losing the No 1 position to Korean phone maker Samsung in the second quarter.
After being pushed to the No 2 slot by Xiaomi, Samsung retained its leadership position, in a Q2 report by Counterpoint.
Manu Jain, Vice-President and Managing Director, India, Xiaomi, makes it light saying that as long as the company is on a growth trajectory, it (the ranking) is not a concern.
“In the history of smartphones in India, no brand did shipments of 10 million units in a quarter in the last 10 years. We have shipped 10 million phones in the country in the last quarter. So, there is no reason for any concern to say that we didn’t do well,” he said.
On Samsung beating Xiaomi to become No 1 brand again, he contended that a different picture would emerge in a week or so when more reports come out.
“There is a lot of confusion about some numbers. Wait for a week or 10 days, you will get a different picture,” he said.
“As long as we are moving in the right direction, as long as we are on the right trajectory, there is no need to worry. It is like share prices. There are some days when it goes down. But as long as you are in the right direction, there is no need for concern,” he said.
Manu Jain was in Vijayawada in connection with an agreement signed between the Andhra Pradesh government and Holitech Technology, a supplier of Xiaomi that makes phone components, to set up a 75-acre manufacturing facility in Tirupati.
Eyeing premium segment
After keeping itself in the mid-range of smartphones, which has been above the average selling price (ASP) of phones in the market, Xiaomi is now setting its sights on the premium segment.
Though he has not indicated the price range, it is likely to be over ₹20,000.
Besides eyeing the premium market, the firm is also looking at providing upgrade options to its existing users.
He, however, refused to indicate a timeline or price tag for the premium phone that it plans to launch.
The firm is set to launch Mi A2 phone this week. This is likely to be priced under ₹20,000.
Data centres
With the government-appointed committee on cloud computing policy favouring hosting of domestic data within the country, Xiaomi said it is open to the idea.
The company currently uses AWS datacentres in the US and Singapore. “We are open to it,” he said.
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