Xiaomi sells more than 34.7 million handsets in the first half of the year

Now that the first half of 2015 is in the books, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has announced on his Weibo page that the manufacturer has sold more than 34.7 million handsets so far this year. What makes the 33% year-over-year gain impressive is the fact that China's smartphone market has been slowing down. Xiaomi is going to need to have an even better second half if the company is going to meet its own target of selling 80 million to 100 million handsets for the year. To meet this goal, Xiaomi will have to sell 45.3 million to 63.3 million phones from July to the end of December.

What might help is the eventual release of the Xiaomi Mi 5. Rumored specs of the phone would place it squarely in the "well-spec'd" category. But Xiaomi might run out of time. Because the Mi 5 is expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 820 SoC, the phone might not launch until November. The device is believed to be equipped with a 5.3-inch screen with a 1440 x 2560 resolution, and carry 4GB of RAM. The back and front camera combo is rumored to be 16MP/6MP and a 3030mAh battery will keep the lights on. Android 5.1.1 should be pre-installed. Besides that powerhouse, other models due in the second half of the year include a premium version of the Mi 5, and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.

Xiaomi does have some momentum on its side. According to Kevin Yang, who toils as an analyst for IHS, the manufacturer sold 19.72 million phones in the second quarter after selling 14.98 million in the first three months of the year. During the first half of 2015, Xiaomi released its most powerfully spec'd phone to date, the Snapdragon 810 SoC powered Xiaomi Mi Note Pro. It also launched the Xiaomi Mi Note, the Xiaomi Mi 4i and the Xiaomi Redmi 2A to name a few.

Even with the big "M" on its side, competition is pretty brutal in China this year, so it remains to be seen if the company can reach its goals for 2015.

source: LeiJun via GizmoChina