We have been hearing for some time that Xiaomi wants to come to the US but that has yet to happen, and following the departure of Hugo Barra, who some believed was one of the key people to help Xiaomi break into the US market, some are wondering if Xiaomi’s US expansion plans are still on track.The good news is that they are, according to an interview with CNBC in which Wang Xiang, the head of Xiaomi’s international business said that they are still looking to enter the US market at some point in time. Wang was quoted as saying, “We always look seriously at the U.S. market. The U.S. market is very important to us but we are very, very carefully building our resources to serve the U.S. consumer.”
Wang adds that the US market is different from other markets where customers enter into contracts with carriers to purchase phones, as opposed to buying them outright (it is possible to do so, but contracts appear to be a popular and more affordable option). As a result, Xiaomi needs to rethink certain things in order to address these differences.
He also says that Xiaomi isn’t concerned about how there might be some anti-China sentiment in the US, namely from US intelligence agencies who have recently warned against purchasing phones from Huawei and ZTE. “We are an internet company, we are very open. Very friendly to consumers, to the people in different countries. We also have lot of fans in U.S. They keep asking me when do you come to U.S.? I always tell them, we’ll be there. Also we are very confident… they will love us.”
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