'Festive sale of Xiaomi 5G phones up 200%'

‘Festive sale of Xiaomi 5G phones up 200%’

Xiaomi India’s sales of 5G smartphones grew by 200% on-year during the Diwali season driven by strong demand from smaller towns for its affordable 5G smartphone models launched earlier this year, as the company starts seeing green shoots of recovering its market position in the coming year, a senior company official told ET.

“All things coming together, our 5G sales this Diwali as compared to last Diwali grew by 200%, spurred by the rapid 5G rollout by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, and the fact that streaming cricket world cup matches was such as natural use case for 5G,” said Muralikrishnan B, adding that the demand was not just a metro phenomenon.

“For us, the top five cities were Delhi and Mumbai which is predictable. The next three are Ahmedabad, Kozhikode, and Surat,” he added.

The executive said the company has come a long way from the tough days of 2022, and is looking to exit 2023 with a lot of strength, momentum, and optimism.

“For a company that was number four in the beginning of the year, to be clear on the strategy and execute this and to climb up the ranks, we are very happy with the way things are progressing. Of course, there is perhaps a lot more work to be done in terms continuing our focus on premiumisation, building offline capabilities, and we will continue working on those,” the executive said.

Xiaomi ended the September quarter by claiming the top spot in terms of smartphone volumes with 17.4% market share when combined with its sub-brand Poco which grew at 50% on-year during the period, according to IDC India.

Muralikrishnan added that from the third quarter onwards, there are more than enough positive signals and green shoots, especially after one and half years of challenging times, referring to the company’s declining market share from the second half of 2022.

“The economy continues to remain resilient. I think we had a fairly decent monsoons this year which spurred rural demand. And from Independence day and Onam onwards, there was a lot of positivity on the festive season and how it panned out,” he said.

The executive remains excited about the 5G opportunity in India with over 500 million users open for the brand to tap into. The company is planning an announcement in the next one month “which should further accelerate 5G adoption in the country,” the company official said.

The company’s TV business also saw a spurt in growth, especially with the Cricket World Cup coinciding with the festive season. Muralikrishnan said its TV business grew at about 30% on-year during the period, with a trend of customers upgrading from 32-inch panels to 43-inch panels with 4K resolution. “The 43-inch 4K segment, which was the hottest segment, grew upwards of 75% year over year,” he said.

What has changed for the company during this period of recovery is that being the top smartphone brand in the country is no longer the priority for the brand.

“Being number one, if that is the outcome of the larger strategy, so be it. Being loved and trusted, focusing on efficiency, sustainability is honestly a lot more important. And we have practiced that mantra this year and it has paid off,” the executive said.

Instead, Muralikrishnan said the company will be focusing more on driving the ecosystem play in India. “This is not a share grabbing game. This is a market creation opportunity by leveraging our large smartphone base to drive AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things), which today is still at a very nascent stage,” he said.

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