Xiaomi, the world's fifth-largest smartphone maker, ranks Thailand as one of its top 10 priority markets for overseas expansion.
"Thailand is extremely important for Xiaomi, in our top 10 out of 60 markets," said Steven Wang, head of expansion marketing for Xiaomi Global.
Since it entered Thailand through a partnership with VST ECS, a local distributor, Xiaomi has invested in authorised Mi Stores at Seacon Bangkae and in Rangsit. The company has some 40 products under the Mi brand.
Xiaomi recently introduced Mi Mix2, its latest smartphone with a 5.99-inch 18:9 ratio 1080x2160 display powered by an octa-core processor alongside 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage.
For the first time, its smartphone was jointly designed by the world renowned designer Philippe Starck.
"We believe a 18:9 ratio full-screen display will be the future standard for smartphones because of the larger usage area and better user experience," Mr Wang said.
Priced at 17,990 baht, the phone was recently launched at less than half the price of the 5.8-inch iPhone X slated for a Nov 24 Thai launch at 40,500 baht for 64GB. The Samsung S8+ is priced at 30,900 baht.
"Our success in innovative technology and unique e-commerce business model through mi.com mixed together with offline retail shops place us fifth in the market with a 7.4% market share as of the first quarter this year, growing 102.6% year-on-year," Mr Wang said.
