Xiaomi Revenues Were Flat in 2015 (fortune.com)

Scott Cendrowski, reporting for Fortune: Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker and second highest-valued startup in the world at $45 billion, barely grew sales at all last year. Revenue for 2015 reached 78 billion yuan ($12.5 billion), a 5% rise from 2014's 74.3 billion yuan. Taking into account the falling value of the Chinese currency, the yuan, sales rose 3% in U.S. dollar terms. Xiaomi has been mum about the 2015 sales total since founder Lei Jun gave a revenue target of 100 billion yuan ($16 billion at the time) at a government meeting in March last year. Flat sales growth represents a dramatic change of fortune for Xiaomi, which until recently appeared to be enjoying the momentum befitting China's hottest startup. It was coming off sales growth of 135% in 2014, and in early 2015 founder Lei Jun said at a press conference that Xiaomi's new smartphone was even better than Apple's iPhone. However the phone, the Mi Note, amassed early user complaints about hot temperatures and didn't become the mega-seller the company might have hoped.CNBC's Jay Yarrow said "The Apple-killer is dying." For the uninitiated, Xiaomi rose to fame in 2013-14 when the company took the world by storm with its cheap-priced handsets, TVs, speakers, power banks, and cameras. These devices offered top-of-the-line specifications for their respective echelon. The company has been called out before for allegedly copying Apple's iOS design in its MIUI Android-based operating system. In the past two years, Xiaomi has expanded its business to several Asian regions, and intends to sell a number of gadgets in the United States and Europe among other regions starting later this year. The company has also expanded its product portfolio, making weighing scale, rice cooker, suitcase and a range of other items.

Comments

Media Bomb in the Cyber War

[cloud.pt]

As someone deeply invested in researching and using Xiaomi devices, and having felt their quality over the years, I believe this news to be utter bull. Sources are all american. Xiaomi did a lot in 2015, its doing a lot in 2016, and that affects revenue. If someone told me they made less profit, I would be totally OK with that because they launch products like rabbits, but whoever believes Xiaomi isn't growing in revenue must be dumb or attempting to influence the market with speculation. Xiaomi has it all: it as a very decent brand, a great product line up, amazing pricing AND availability, even despite not making its devices available internationally (sites like gearbest take care of that high cost for them, and we, the final consumer use them indiscriminately). It is flat out impossible this brand made less revenue than in 2014 - they launched the Mi4, but the OnePlus killed its market for most of 2014. The S6 came right after. If they managed to make 135% revenue with the low season of 2014, considering those 2 very successful devices came right before or during prime season, I highly doubt the very uneventful 2015 (for most other brands) could have killed them. I mean, they released about 6 of the most interesting devices for the low-mid range: Redmi 2 and 3, Redmi Note 2 and 3, the Mi4 cheap variants 4s and 4c (this one being one of my favourite devices ever on the market as it matches a N5x for half price at launch, and still gives it a run for the money despite de N5X price cut). And this is just the mobile side of the thing. I am sure they are making gazillions with the old and new Mi bands, and I don't even have to mention the weird products they launch in the market, from water purifiers, passing through wifi routers, smart TVs, smart TV boxes, to audiophile-graded headphones like the Piston 3 or the hybrids (seriously, they're praised in places like head-fi forums, it has to mean something). I don't believe they are even making less profit, let alone less revenue. Prove me wrong, I dare you internet

Their problem is easily identified

[93 Escort Wagon]

The company has also expanded its product portfolio, making weighing scale, rice cooker, suitcase and a range of other items.

There's the problem, identified right there in the summary - they're only making one of each thing. If they want to take advantage of economies of scale, they need to start making products en masse.