Xiaomi triples smartphone shipments in 2014 to 61.1 million units

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of upstart smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, announced on Sunday that it shipped 61.1 million handsets in 2014. That is a remarkable increase from the 18.7 million units that the company shipped the previous year. On a percentage basis, that works out to a whopping 326% year-over-year increase. In terms of revenue, the company brought in $11.97 billion which more than doubled 2013's revenue. Profits were not revealed.

The executive said that other manufacturers are now starting to copy Xiaomi's strategies. More companies are now looking to make quick, low-priced sales on the internet, instead of selling their wares through carriers or other retail locations. Xiaomi has been known for its "flash sales" where tens of thousands of phones are sold in seconds.

As we told you last month, Xiaomi recently raised over $1 billion in a new round of funding that was done at a valuation of more than $45 billion. That is the second highest valuation ever put on a private company by venture capitalists, surpassing the $41 billion valuation recently placed on Uber. It trails only the $50 billion valuation put on Facebook, with an investment in 2011 by Goldman Sachs.

It has been an amazingly heady ride for the company, which Mr. Lei founded in 2010. Today, the smartphone manufacturer introduced the Xiaomi Redmi 2S, a sequel to the Xiaomi Remi 1S. And we expect to see the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 phablet and a new flagship introduced very soon.

source: WSJ