Smartphone maker Xiaomi delays expansion plans amid talks with Foxconn

Xiaomi Corp is delaying aggressive plans to expand into five more countries this year as the mainland smartphone maker talks to Foxconn Technology Group about boosting production of the low-cost devices.

Xiaomi and Foxconn were discussing making phones in India and Brazil, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice-president in charge of global operations, said yesterday.

Xiaomi, the world's third-largest smartphone vendor, might also consider manufacturing in Indonesia, Barra said.

"Our focus is to add market by market, one market at a time," he said. "Earlier this year, we talked about wanting to be in 10 markets within [the year]. We realised that if we are to stay sharply focused, we can't do that, so we scaled back."

Founder and chief executive Lei Jun pushed four-year-old Xiaomi beyond its home base this year into India, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. That growth helped catapult the company past other mainland manufacturers in the third quarter to trail only Samsung Electronics and Apple.

Entry into Thailand, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey was postponed until next year, Barra said.