It has been announced that the Chinese cellphone maker, Xiaomi, is coming to Africa. Hailed as the “Apple of China” and number three in global smartphone sales last year, behind Samsung and Apple, this company was only founded five years ago by Founder and CEO Lei Jun.
Xiaomi have aggressively grown their market share in China, ousting the iPhone from top-spot by selling slickly-designed Android handsets made from quality components but selling its handsets cheaply by reducing hardware profit margins.
Xiaomi will enter Africa through Mobile in Africa Limited which has been appointed as a distributor in 50 African countries.
The entrance of Xiaomi into Africa will spell doom for some of the smartphone makers already operating in the continent as it is a fertile field for the aggressive company bearing in mind that Sub-Saharan Africa has been the fastest-growing region over the last five years, in terms of both unique subscribers and connections … By June 2014, there were 329 million unique subscribers, equivalent to a penetration rate of 38%… [and] 608 million connections.”
Forbes reports that Mobile In Africa is setting up online stores in 14 countries, similar to the mostly-online sales strategy Xiaomi uses in China. “The brand is a mobile internet company. It has made its name selling directly to the public through online channels. We will try and replicate that as much as possible in Africa,” says Van Spaandonk. “What attracts me to the Xiaomi’s Mi brand is that they produce the highest quality product with the best available parts at the lowest possible price. For which there is an immense demand in Africa,” says Van Spaandonk.
Xiaomi will be launching with two Xiaomi handsets: the Red Mi 2 (costing $160 / ZAR1,999, including import duties in South Africa) and the Mi 4 ($320 / ZAR3,999).
Image credits: Forbes.com
