Xiaomi posts 64 pc rise in revenue as it snaps up DeepMotion to fast track its autonomous driving plans
- The Beijing-based company has announced an ambitious goal to become the world’s largest smartphone maker in three years
- Xiaomi’s profit lifted by gains in smartphone market share and sales of internet services
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp posted a 64 per cent increase in second-quarter revenue, just weeks after the Beijing-based company announced an ambitious goal to become the world’s largest smartphone maker in three years.
Hong Kong-listed Xiaomi on Wednesday posted slightly better-than-expected revenue of 87.8 billion yuan (US$13.56 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, up from 53.5 billion yuan a year ago. The robust performance was helped by gains in smartphone market share at home and abroad.
Net income jumped 84 per cent to 8.3 billion yuan in the same quarter, beating the 6 billion yuan consensus from analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
“In the high end 4,000 to 5,000 yuan segment, our handset shipments reached 12 million units in the first half … this compared with 10 million for the whole of last year,” said Xiaomi president Wang Xiang in a conference call after the results were released on Wednesday. “We are continuing to promote premium phone development and we have achieved very good results.”
Wang said Xiaomi is buying autonomous driving technology firm DeepMotion for US$77.4 million to fast track development of its smart EV business. He said the company is still in the process of hiring talent for its smart car unit, without saying where it would build its car-making factory or who its potential partners might be.
“We will expedite the development of Level 4 autonomous driving technology … and we want to hire the best talent,” said Wang Xiang on the conference call. “We want to shorten the launch lead time for our smart EV products.”