Xiaomi USA: ‘Apple Of China’ Preparing To Enter North American Market; On Track To Sell 60 Million Handsets In 2014?

Xiaomi USA: The company has been called the “Apple of China,” thanks to the numerous antics it has mimic from the Cupertino tech giant. But Beijing-based Xiaomi, the five-year old company that has been making waves in the world’s largest mobile market, is set to create devices that will be compatible with the US market in 2015.

“We will start working on North America next year…It’s in the pipeline,” Hugo Barra, the former Google exec and now Xiaomi’s Global VP, told Android Authority in June 2014.

The company’s two most recent handsets, the Xiaomi Mi3 and the newly unveiled Xiaomi Mi4 flagship, have become best sellers in its home market of China. Mi3 set a remarkable record during its 2013 launch when it’s first batch of 100,000 units sold out in 86 seconds during a flash sale.

In the first half of 2014 alone, the company has sold 21.6 million handsets, more than its total smartphone sales for 2013, when it sold 18.7 million. Xiaomi is eyeing to sell a total of 60 million by the end of the year. Intent on increasing its reach, the company has entered Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, and is set to also make waves Turkey, Brazil, Mexic, and Russia. The company has an ambitious goal of selling 100 million handsets in 2015.

In a report released last month, research firm Canalys notes that Xiaomi has overtook Samsung to become the country’s largest smartphone maker with 14 percent of market share. A key part of Xiaomi’s success is its aggressive pricing, Wang Jiwen of Canalys said. It’s newly launched Redmi handsets start as low as $113 without carrier subsidies.

Thanks to its accelerated growth, the company is also now the fifth larges smartphone maker in the world, according to Strategy Analytics. It has shipped a total of 15.1 million smartphones the last three months.

“This is the first time Xiaomi has risen to 5th place in its share of global shipments, according to Strategy Analytics’ Woody Oh — which is extraordinary considering the company is just four years old,” reports Forbes magazine.

With a full quarter of the year ahead, Xiaomi’s goal of selling 60 million handsets this year is a genuine possibility.