Xiaomi has made a name for itself for offering sleek and powerful devices at affordable prices, but it still has some work to do in terms of availability.
U.S. fans have long been waiting for Xiaomi to release its smartphones stateside, but it has yet to come true. Xiaomi, for its part, says that it does plan on launching smartphones in the United States "eventually," but it will most likely not happen this year.
At CES 2017 in Las Vegas, Xiaomi unwrapped a gorgeous white Xiaomi Mi Mix smartphone with a razor-thin bezel and impressive features that make it quite appealing. Although it made its debut in Las Vegas, however, it's set to hit the market in China. U.S. customers are left high and dry and it may take a good while before we'll start seeing Xiaomi smartphones stateside.
In other words, the white Xiaomi Mi Mix unveiled at CES 2017 is just another Xiaomi device U.S. fans can't get. Speaking with CNET, Xiaomi's global vice president, Hugo Barra, explains why that is.
No 'Specific-Enough Plans Yet'
Xiaomi was rumored to start selling smartphones in the United States by the end of this year and the Mi Mix's presence at CES fueled such speculation, but Barra says it's not the case.
"We don't have any specific-enough plans yet that we're comfortable talking about yet," Barra tells CNET. "Eventually we'll make our way over there."
Other Chinese smartphone makers such as OnePlus, ZTE and Huawei are already racing on the highly competitive smartphone market in the United States, selling unlocked devices in a bid to boost their global performance. Xiaomi, however, is still not confident that it's ready to start competing in a fierce market where Apple's iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphones rule the game.
Baby Steps
Barra says that Xiaomi is taking its time growing its business and bolstering its operations, penetrating the U.S. market one step at a time. The company may not be ready to release smartphones just yet, but it already entered the United States back in 2015.
Back then, Barra said that competing on the U.S. smartphone market would take "an incredible amount of work" and it seems the company has still not managed to pull it off and it may not make it in 2017 either.
"We don't want to go anywhere near the half-hearted efforts to launch a brand in the [United States] just to say we're in the [United States]," Barra further explains to CNET.
That may be a subtle jab at rivals who rushed to enter the U.S. market before they were fully ready, but it's still good advice for any company that wants to expand beyond its home market.
If Xiaomi wants its smartphones to be as successful stateside as they are in the countries they're already available, it needs to think everything through and come up with a solution to keep offering high-end specs and performance while still keeping the costs down. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to continue offering its devices at affordable price points, which would likely reduce their appeal.
All in all, taking things slow could mean another few years until Xiaomi smartphones reach the United States, but here's to hoping it would be sooner rather than later.
