On May 23rd, Xiaomi Group released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. Driven by globalization and its push into the high-end market, Xiaomi’s smartphone business continued to grow. In the first quarter of 2024, Xiaomi’s global smartphone shipments increased by 33.7% year-over-year to 40.6 million units, achieving year-over-year growth for three consecutive quarters. Revenue grew quarter-over-quarter for four consecutive quarters to RMB 46.5 billion.
According to Canalys data, Xiaomi’s global smartphone shipments have ranked among the top three for 15 consecutive quarters, with a market share of 13.8%. Benefiting from the stable market advantage formed by its high-end products, Xiaomi’s smartphone profitability continued to improve. In the first quarter, its gross profit margin was 14.8%, an increase of 3.6 percentage points year-over-year.
“The high-end positioning of the Xiaomi brand has driven sales growth across all product categories of the Xiaomi Group,” said Lu Weibing, Xiaomi Group’s partner and president, during the earnings call. “Currently, the high-end positioning of Xiaomi in the domestic market has completed the first step, establishing a presence in the RMB 4,000 to 6,000 price segment for smartphones, fully demonstrating the effectiveness of Xiaomi’s high-end strategy. Next, we will focus on breaking through the market for phones priced above RMB 6,000. For the international market, the goal is to increase shipments of phones priced above $600.”
Lu Weibing also pointed out that the changes in user structure and the implications of high-end positioning brought about by Xiaomi’s automotive business will drive the high-end positioning of other product categories.
On March 28th, Xiaomi’s first smart electric car, the Xiaomi SU7, was officially released. According to Lu Weibing, orders for Xiaomi’s new car have been surging since its launch. As of 24:00 on April 30th, the order volume for the Xiaomi SU7 reached 88,063 units. To achieve the goal of “delivery upon listing and volume upon delivery,” Xiaomi is accelerating capacity expansion and ensuring delivery. Xiaomi’s car factory will start double shifts in June to ramp up production capacity. They are confident that monthly new car deliveries will exceed 10,000 units in June, with a target of 120,000 new car deliveries for the entire year of 2024.
Lu Weibing also stated that Xiaomi’s car delivery has exceeded expectations at this stage. “The Pro version, originally planned for delivery by the end of May, has been delivered ahead of schedule starting on May 18th. As of May 15th, we have cumulatively delivered 10,000 units, setting a new industry record for delivery speed.”
It’s worth noting that on the day of the Xiaomi SU7’s launch, Xiaomi LIFE also released a beautiful set of nine exquisitely crafted coffee cups. It is said that Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, personally participated in the development process of these cups, but they are currently very difficult to sell.
