In the span of just a few years after its founding in 2010, Xiaomi became China’s top smartphone maker and one of the country’s most valuable start-ups, aided in part by its hunger-marketing tactics of selling limited batches of phones.
But by 2016, the company’s lustre started to fade as it focused on lifestyle products that included smart devices like wearables and not-so-smart products like luggage and umbrellas.
Now Xiaomi is back on top, and the company has lofty ambitions, with its first electric car in the pipeline. Here is a look at the rise and fall and rise of Xiaomi.
How did Xiaomi get started?
Xiaomi was founded in Beijing in 2010 by a cohort of six people, led by 51-year-old entrepreneur Lei Jun, who remains the company’s CEO.