Xiaomi facts for kids
Headquarters in Beijing
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Trade name
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Mi |
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Native name
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小米集团
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Romanized name
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Xiǎomǐ |
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| Founded | 6 April 2010 |
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| Headquarters | , |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Revenue |  CN¥365.906 billion US$50.971 billion(2024) |
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Operating income
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CN¥24.503 billion US$3.413 billion (2024) |
| CN¥23.578 billion US$3.284 billion (2024) |
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| Total assets | CN¥324.25 billion US$44.27 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | CN¥164.26 billion US$22.42 billion (2023) |
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Number of employees
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33,627 (31 December 2023) |
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"Xiaomi" in Chinese characters
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| Chinese | 小米 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Millet | ||||||||
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Xiaomi (/ˈʃaʊmi/) is a big tech company from China. Its main office is in Beijing. Xiaomi is famous for making electronics, software, and even electric cars. It is one of the biggest smartphone makers in the world, right after Samsung. Most of its phones use its own special software called Xiaomi HyperOS. Xiaomi is also one of the youngest companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, which ranks the biggest companies worldwide. People sometimes call it the "Apple of China" because it's so popular.
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Xiaomi started in 2010 in Beijing. It was founded by Lei Jun and six friends. Lei Jun had worked at a company called Kingsoft and helped start Joyo.com, which was later sold to Amazon. In August 2011, Xiaomi released its first smartphone. By 2014, it sold more smartphones than any other company in China. At first, Xiaomi only sold its products online. Later, it opened physical stores. By 2015, it was making many different kinds of electronics. In 2020, the company sold almost 150 million smartphones. Its mobile software, Xiaomi HyperOS, has over 500 million people using it every month. As of August 2024, Xiaomi was the second-largest seller of smartphones globally.
Xiaomi keeps its prices low by selling products for about 18 months. This is longer than most smartphone companies. It also uses special sales and keeps fewer products in storage. This helps keep costs down.
Contents
Company History
How Xiaomi Started (2010–2013)
Xiaomi was co-founded on April 6, 2010, by Lei Jun and six other people. These co-founders included:
- Lin Bin, who was a vice president at Google China.
- Zhou Guangping, a senior director from Motorola Mobility.
- Liu De, a design expert from a university.
- Li Wanqiang, a general manager from Kingsoft.
- Huang Jiangji, a main development manager.
- Hong Feng, a senior product manager for Google China.
Lei Jun was not happy with other mobile phones at the time. He believed he could make a better product. On August 16, 2010, Xiaomi launched its first software, MIUI (now called Xiaomi HyperOS). This software was based on Android. In August 2011, the company released its first phone, the Xiaomi Mi 1. This phone used Xiaomi's MIUI software with Android.
In August 2012, Xiaomi hired Hugo Barra from Google. He was a vice president for Android. He joined Xiaomi to help the company grow outside of China. He left Xiaomi in February 2017. In September 2013, Xiaomi announced its Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphone. It also released a 47-inch 3D Smart TV. By October 2013, Xiaomi was the fifth most popular smartphone brand in China. In 2013, Xiaomi sold 18.7 million smartphones.
Growing Bigger (2014–2020)
In February 2014, Xiaomi announced it would expand outside China. It opened an international office in Singapore. In April 2014, Xiaomi bought the website name mi.com for a lot of money. This became the company's main website. By December 2014, Xiaomi had raised over $1 billion. This made it one of the most valuable private tech companies in the world. In 2014, the company sold over 60 million smartphones. Most of its money came from selling phones.
In April 2015, Ratan Tata, a famous business leader, bought a part of Xiaomi. On June 30, 2015, Xiaomi started selling phones in Brazil. These phones were made locally. However, the company left Brazil in late 2016. In June 2016, Xiaomi bought patents from Microsoft. In September 2016, Xiaomi started selling products in Europe. It also released the Xiaomi Mi Robot vacuum cleaner. In October 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi Mix phone.
In March 2017, Xiaomi announced plans for a second factory in India. In July 2017, the company made a deal with Nokia about patents. On September 5, 2017, Xiaomi released the Xiaomi Mi A1. This was its first Android One phone, made with Google. In 2017, Xiaomi opened stores in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The first Mi Store in Europe opened in Athens, Greece, in October 2017. In late 2017, Xiaomi became the biggest smartphone brand in India. It sold 9.2 million phones in three months. In November 2017, Xiaomi started selling products in Spain and other parts of Western Europe.
In April 2018, Xiaomi launched a gaming phone brand called Black Shark. In May 2018, Xiaomi started selling smart home products in the United States through Amazon. In June 2018, Xiaomi became a public company. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In August 2018, the company launched POCO. This was a new line of mid-range smartphones. The Xiaomi Pocophone F1 became a very popular phone in India. It was known for having great features at a low price.
In July 2019, Xiaomi opened its new main office in Beijing. In October 2019, the company said it would launch more than 10 5G phones in 2020. In November 2019, Xiaomi entered the Japanese market. In March 2020, Xiaomi launched its first foldable phone, the Mi Mix Fold. It also showed off new fast wireless charging technology. By October 2020, Xiaomi was the third-largest smartphone maker in the world.
Recent Developments (Since 2021)
On March 30, 2021, Xiaomi announced it would invest $10 billion in electric vehicles over the next ten years. On March 31, 2021, Xiaomi revealed a new logo designed by Kenya Hara. In July 2021, Xiaomi became the second-largest smartphone maker in the world. It also passed Apple in Europe for the first time. In August 2021, the company bought Deepmotion, a company that works on self-driving technology. In December 2021, Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro phones.
In April 2022, Xiaomi joined the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) board. In June 2022, Xiaomi started a new company called Zhuhai Xinshi Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. This company focuses on making computer chips. In July 2022, Xiaomi and its POCO brand were the top smartphone sellers in Russia. On August 3, 2022, Xiaomi Group ranked 266th on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 list. This was a big jump from the year before. In December 2022, Xiaomi announced that it had sold over 300 million Redmi Note series phones worldwide.
On February 28, 2023, Redmi showed off a super-fast charging technology. It could charge a phone battery to 50% in just over 2 minutes. In May 2025, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi had developed its own mobile phone processor chip, the XRING O1. This chip was released and used in the Xiaomi 15S Pro and Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra. On June 26, 2025, Xiaomi Auto launched its first SUV car model, the Xiaomi YU7.
About the Company
What Xiaomi's Name Means
Xiǎomǐ (小米) is the Chinese word for "millet" (a type of grain). In 2011, CEO Lei Jun said the name has more meanings. He said xiǎo (小, meaning "small") refers to a Buddhist idea: "a single grain of rice of a Buddhist is as great as a mountain." This means Xiaomi wants to start with small things and work its way up. He also said mǐ (米) stands for "Mobile Internet" and "mission impossible." This refers to the challenges of starting the company. He also thought the name was cute.
Xiaomi's Logo and Mascot
(2014–2021)
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(2021–present)
Xiaomi's first logo was an orange square with white "MI" letters. This logo was used until March 31, 2021. Then, a new logo was designed by Kenya Hara. The new logo looks similar but has rounded corners instead of sharp ones. The "MI" letters stayed the same.
Xiaomi's mascot is Mitu, a white rabbit. Mitu wears a special hat called an Ushanka (or "Lei Feng hat" in China) with a red star. It also wears a red tie. Later, the red star on the hat was replaced by the company's logo.
New Ideas and Growth
On February 8, 2022, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi planned to make high-end smartphones. The goal was to become the top seller of premium smartphones in China within three years. To do this, Xiaomi planned to invest a lot of money in research and development. The company also aimed to make its products as good as Apple's. Lei Jun called this new plan a "life-or-death battle" for the company's future.
A report from 2022 showed that Xiaomi was the top seller of smartphones in India. Xiaomi is known for keeping its devices affordable. In 2022, Xiaomi also showed off its first humanoid robot. This robot is still in early stages, but it shows Xiaomi's goal to use AI in its products. In 2024, Xiaomi was ranked 5th in the world for new industrial designs. In April 2025, Xiaomi released its MiMo-7B reasoning model, joining the field of AI.
Electric Cars
In 2021, Xiaomi announced it would invest $10 billion in electric vehicles (EVs). In late 2023, Xiaomi Auto showed its first car, the Xiaomi SU7. The company announced it wants to be one of the top five car makers in the world. On March 28, 2024, Xiaomi officially launched the SU7 car in Beijing. The SU7 was made with BAIC Group. In July 2024, Xiaomi got a license to make its own electric cars. Xiaomi's EV factory in Beijing can make an SU7 car every 76 seconds when it's running at full speed. Xiaomi was included in Time magazine's 2024 list of influential companies.
Partnerships
In 2021, Harman Kardon worked with Xiaomi on its Xiaomi Mi 11 smartphones. These were the first phones to have speakers tuned by Harman Kardon. In 2022, Leica Camera started working with Xiaomi. They teamed up to make Leica cameras for Xiaomi's best smartphones. The first phones with this new partnership were the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Xiaomi MIX Fold 2.
Xiaomi also started working with directors to make short films. These films were shot entirely using the Xiaomi Mi 11 phones. In 2022, they made two short films with Jessica Henwick. One of them, Bus Girl, won several awards. A Xiaomi phone factory opened in Pakistan on March 4, 2022. It was set up with a local company called Select Technologies.
Images for kids
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"Xiaomi" in Chinese characters
See also
In Spanish: Xiaomi para niños
