Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures • Hacker News Board

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#31

Post by rahimnathwani » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 6:20 AM UTC

dmritard96 wrote: post #7

DCKing wrote: post #4

It's interesting what's going on here. They have gone on record before that they're not making a profit on their phones, and evidently their tactics are creating a bit of an internal mess. They've grown very rapidly. I imported a Xiaomi Mi 4C a month or two ago for €100 (it still sells around that price). For that price you get a fantastic 5" screen, the same Snapdragon 808 chip / 2GB RAM as the €300 Nexus 5X, a more…

There is an important supply chain related nuance in my opinion - in the US, distribution channels are critically important - Amazon, Best Buy etc. - but in Asia, this isn't always the case, in fact a flash sale on JD or some vendors stores directly means they can play with skinny margins and sell products. If you are selling something in Best Buy, there is a good chance that there is a 50% markup in many cases which…

I don't believe that a large proportion of phones sold by Best Buy have a 50℅ retail markup. If that were the case, you'd expect those models' effective retail prices in China to be ~70℅ of the US retail prices. But they aren't. Brand-name mobile phones retail for roughly the same price in China as they do in the US. (With the exception of iPhones, which are about 20℅ more expensive in China than in the US).

I suspect that Best Buy makes insignificant margins on most cellphones, but makes it up on accessories (and I guess they sell carrier plans as well?).

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#32

Post by disiplus » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 7:25 AM UTC

DCKing wrote: post #4

It's interesting what's going on here. They have gone on record before that they're not making a profit on their phones, and evidently their tactics are creating a bit of an internal mess. They've grown very rapidly. I imported a Xiaomi Mi 4C a month or two ago for €100 (it still sells around that price). For that price you get a fantastic 5" screen, the same Snapdragon 808 chip / 2GB RAM as the €300 Nexus 5X, a more…

i ordered xiaomi note 2 for my sister and you get what you pay. the rom is completly shit. its full of ads you cannot turn of. and the battery became unusable after only half year. because i ordered it online i dont have any warrany. my sister had to buy a new smartphone. dont just look at the specs when you buy something.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#33

Post by rjuyal » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 8:01 AM UTC

schuke wrote: post #30

Even though Xiaomi is most widely known as a smartphone manufacturer, for me it's a fantastic home appliance and electronic accessories maker. They're great value for their price. I've come to own so many of these without even noticing myself: - A great body weight scale that I use almost everyday, for around 100 yuan (~14 dollars). Has Bluetooth and syncs with your phone. I bought a second one for my mom. - Four air…

They also have $20 fitness tracker with app.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#34

Post by dilemma » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 8:31 AM UTC

disiplus wrote: post #32

DCKing wrote: post #4

It's interesting what's going on here. They have gone on record before that they're not making a profit on their phones, and evidently their tactics are creating a bit of an internal mess. They've grown very rapidly. I imported a Xiaomi Mi 4C a month or two ago for €100 (it still sells around that price). For that price you get a fantastic 5" screen, the same Snapdragon 808 chip / 2GB RAM as the €300 Nexus 5X, a more…

i ordered xiaomi note 2 for my sister and you get what you pay. the rom is completly shit. its full of ads you cannot turn of. and the battery became unusable after only half year. because i ordered it online i dont have any warrany. my sister had to buy a new smartphone. dont just look at the specs when you buy something.

Xiaomi roms don't have ads. You ordered from a third party vendor that had installed their own rom showing ads. This is a problem of their distribution model -- the phones are available internationally only via unofficial third parties -- rather than their product.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#35

Post by iliaznk » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 8:35 AM UTC

I bought a Redmi 3s phone about 3 weeks ago after my Nexus 4 dropped in water and I'm still very impressed with its build quality, the MIUI shell is great and what I really like is the battery life. There's no chance I'll ever buy anything else while such great and cheap offerings exist in the market.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#36

Post by izacus » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 9:39 AM UTC

adventurer wrote: post #23

ilamont wrote: post #17

highly-regarded Chinese outfit It wasn't so much a matter of being "highly regarded" as it was being overly hyped. I am not sure if it was the media’s fault or Xiaomi’s own PR efforts, but the nonstop “Steve Jobs of China” headlines and fawning articles about the hardware and Miui were over the top. When Xiaomi was listed #2 in Technology Review’s “50 Smartest Companies” of 2015 (behind Tesla, 1) I was flabbergasted…

Counterfeit Jobs is just the media being the media. Lei Ju dressed like Steve and presented like him. They have done nothing remotely innovative as a company. Their phones looked like duplicates of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy lineup for years, which from my understanding, is why they haven't entered the U.S. or other markets yet.

If you actually used any of their devices you'll quickly see that "done nothing remotely innovative" is an utter lie.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#37

Post by DCKing » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 10:06 AM UTC

disiplus wrote: post #32

DCKing wrote: post #4

It's interesting what's going on here. They have gone on record before that they're not making a profit on their phones, and evidently their tactics are creating a bit of an internal mess. They've grown very rapidly. I imported a Xiaomi Mi 4C a month or two ago for €100 (it still sells around that price). For that price you get a fantastic 5" screen, the same Snapdragon 808 chip / 2GB RAM as the €300 Nexus 5X, a more…

i ordered xiaomi note 2 for my sister and you get what you pay. the rom is completly shit. its full of ads you cannot turn of. and the battery became unusable after only half year. because i ordered it online i dont have any warrany. my sister had to buy a new smartphone. dont just look at the specs when you buy something.

There are certain gotchas when importing a Xiaomi phone, one of which is being wary of replacing the software the distributor has put on it with official Xiaomi software. Clearly you didn't do that.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#38

Post by ValentineC » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 10:52 AM UTC

tajen wrote: post #11

dmritard96 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an important supply chain related nuance in my opinion - in the US, distribution channels are critically important - Amazon, Best Buy etc. - but in Asia, this isn't always the case, in fact a flash sale on JD or some vendors stores directly means they can play with skinny margins and sell products. If you are selling something in Best Buy, there is a good chance that there is a 50% markup in many cases which…

Vendors (from Samsung to even clothing companies) make agreements with retail stores to have the same price in shops and online. Otherwise online would be cheaper and retail would refuse to list more expensive SKUs. The only ways to bypass the markup of the distribution network are: - Go "Tesla" mode: Sell directly online or manage your own distribution – Only works if you pull off a unique product, makes the pricesh…

> on the other hand Amazon decided to massively dispatch counterfeited products together with merchant-originated ones, casting a doubt on the brand and tainting all their providers together.

Does this happen even with products "shipped from and sold by Amazon"?

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#39

Post by Camillo » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 10:59 AM UTC

rahimnathwani wrote: post #31

dmritard96 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an important supply chain related nuance in my opinion - in the US, distribution channels are critically important - Amazon, Best Buy etc. - but in Asia, this isn't always the case, in fact a flash sale on JD or some vendors stores directly means they can play with skinny margins and sell products. If you are selling something in Best Buy, there is a good chance that there is a 50% markup in many cases which…

I don't believe that a large proportion of phones sold by Best Buy have a 50℅ retail markup. If that were the case, you'd expect those models' effective retail prices in China to be ~70℅ of the US retail prices. But they aren't. Brand-name mobile phones retail for roughly the same price in China as they do in the US. (With the exception of iPhones, which are about 20℅ more expensive in China than in the US). I suspec…

You are somehow mistyping % as ℅.

Re: Xiaomi stops disclosing annual sales figures

#40

Post by dogma1138 » Sun, Jan 15, 2017, 11:51 AM UTC

pcr0 wrote: post #20

dogma1138 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will work there are quite a few alternative app stores that do make money. Considering that emerging markets sell phones without google play I would go on a limb and say that most android phones sold now come without the play store.

I think China is the only market where phones are sold without google services. Even when Xiaomi sells to India or Hong Kong, the phones are often "global version" (different ROM), which come with google services because everyone outside China expects them.

Africa, India, Latin America Russia and many super cheap phones in Europe.