Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is facing a slowdown in growth as H1 shipments rose just 33 per cent year-on-year, in contrast to 227 per cent full-year growth in 2014.
According to a tweet by Hugo Barra, the company’s VP of international operations, it shipped 34.7 million smartphones in the first half of the year, which will make hitting its original 100 million full-year target a major challenge.
Xiaomi chief executive Lei Jun has since lowered that target, which he announced last year, to 80 million, Reuters reported.
The company’s ambitious expansion plans come as the global smartphone market is forecast to grow just 11.3 per cent this year, down from 27.6 per cent last year, according to IDC.
The slowdown is being driven by two factors, which impact mainland-based firms more than their overseas counterparts. China’s smartphone growth, forecast at 2.5 per cent, will be slower than the worldwide market for the first time, and Android smartphone growth is also expected to be slower than worldwide market growth.
China, the world’s largest smartphone market, saw shipments fall 4.3 per cent in Q1 to 98.8 million units, the first time in six years that the market has declined year-on-year.
Xiaomi’s global expansion plans have been slowed as it struggles to keep pace with growth in the new markets it has already entered.
Xiaomi, the fifth largest smartphone brand in the world and number one in China since Q3 last year, shipped 61 million smartphones in 2014.
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