Malaysia Is Next In Xiaomi’s World Domination Plans, More To Come

‌April 11, 2014

Xiaomi has been making its way through Asia like a Mongol horde. And like Genghis Khan’s exploits, the whole world is wondering if they plan to turn their sights on the West, but so far, they seem content to conquer Asian territory after Asian territory.

Xiaomi obviously isn’t Mongolian and the Khans stopped just short of modern day Malaysia, so the analogy kind of runs thin after that, but Xiaomi is clearly trying to take over the (cell phone) world, one Asian territory at a time. Of course, as the hiring of Hugo Barra already indicated, Xiaomi has plans outside of Asia as well.

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During the China 2.0 forum at Beijing University, Hugo Barra laid out some of Xiaomi’s future plans for expansion. First, their campaign in Asia will finish with Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and India before setting their sights on Latin America, starting with Mexico and Brazil.

According to Tech in Asia, Barra also stated that Xiaomi wants to solidify its position in those South Asian countries before venturing into India.

Xiaomi has been growing at an exceedingly fast pace, selling over 11 million phones in the first three months of this year already.

We will keep you up to date on Xiaomi’s conquest plans as the year rolls on.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

pancho
April 11, 2014
nice news, i hope hugo expand the brand with the new phones especially the low cost for america and latin america with 3g wcdma and 4g LTE compatibility in this part of the world
Airyl
April 11, 2014
Finally, we’re getting some good stuff here. Oppo and Alcatel have been quite aggressive here, so it’ll be interesting to see what Xiaomi plans to pull off.

$2548414
April 11, 2014
Malayasia would be easy..just 30 mill ppl, Xiaomi could really have a walkover , India on the other hand with Forty Times as many, & geographical area ten times , will be another kettle of fish to conquer , perhaps Xiaomi and Barra will have to diversify the product mix , especially at lower end in order to dominate.
wayne900
April 12, 2014
nice coming to malaysia. lets have oppo vs xiomi battle..

Sheeplag
April 12, 2014
its time to see the big boy from Korea (yes im talking to you Sammy) to take a breath of fresh air. Oppo already landed here (Malaysia) and the more the better for consumers.
- Airyl
  April 12, 2014
  Agreed. What’s surprising though is that Oppo has been receiving VERY positive reception from Malaysians. I was expecting good recpetion, but they’ve managed to catch the attention of quite a lot of people. Things are looking pretty bright for them here, especially with the Find 7 coming soon.

highwind
April 12, 2014
- Airyl
  April 12, 2014
  - highwind
    April 13, 2014
- LucifeL MartelL
  April 13, 2014
  Lolzz.. you nailed it for me… 😛
- IreMinMon
  April 15, 2014
  Lol, Mi2S has fantastic design, better than any Apple product. LTE doesn’t really matter when it costs additional 10$ a month. Let’s not forget that Xiaomi Mi3 topped AnTuTu benchmark leaderboards not too long ago, being the only device to pass 40000. Xiaomi produces devices with way best performance to price ratio. Show some respect.
  - highwind
    April 16, 2014
    You are right, they are awesome for running Antutu and faking scores all day long!
    Desing is fanatastic aswell, you wont find any thicker screen bezels on any current high end phone!
    Ok, maybe on a Xperia Z1, but that has both, useless 4G and useless water/dust resistance, so the Xiaomi is clearly the better product!
    - IreMinMon
      April 16, 2014
      Z1 / Z2 also has those sharp corners making it impossible to carry it in your pocket for 8 hours straight. Also, the side keys on Mi2S are very useful, easy to find in the dark and they look nice, unlike the stupid ugly Xperia unlock button. The plastic, cheap as it is, provides better grip than the idiotic glass. It’s 4.3″ screen makes phone compact enough to be fully useful with single hand. It has detachable battery, which is always a plus, and uses it’s “bezels” as capacitive buttons, so they don’t take space on screen. All of this for 180€ without contract.
      Water / dust resistance is nice, but that glass for sure would break on 1/2 meter fall. 4G is niceif you are willing to pay. I’m intending to pay no more than 600€ for my entire 2 – year contract + mobile device. 4G would make it 1000€, and it’s worth far from 400€.
      - highwind
        April 18, 2014
        So, you are talking about “plastic smartphones” carried in pockets?
        Xiaomi MI3 dimension: 144×73.6x 8.1mm – Snapdragon800, 5 inch screen, no LTE, 1 year warranty, not availabe for <400€ in Europe (inlcuding VAT)
        LG G2 dimension: 138.5x71x9mm – also Snapdragon800 but 5.2 inch screen, LTE, 2 year warranty, 299€ including VAT in most european countries…
        Awesome price-performance ratio on that Xiaomi device!!! xD
        On a side note:
        We get 3GB LTE for about 5€ per month in Germany… (and as this being a Vodafone offer I doubt it will be much more expensive in other european countries)
        Perhaps you should compare prices/offerings instead of picking the most expensive and take it as "god given"
        
        IreMinMon
        April 18, 2014
        Xiaomi Mi2S, 180€ with shipping directly from Hong Kong, Snapdragon 600, 4.3″ 720p IPS, 2GB RAM, 16GB (10 availible) ROM, no LTE, no MicroSD, 13 month warranty.
        Buying phone without contract allows me to lower my monthly fee for 20%, lowering it to 16€. I get 1GB 3G and unlimited talks and messaging inside my country. Additional LTE would cost 7€ for 1GB, 8€ for 2GB, 12€ for 3GB or 18€ for 15.GB a month and I’m not paying this. I never turn wi-fi off anyways. And guess what. This is SiMobil’s prices, which is also owned by Vodafone.
        
        highwind
        April 22, 2014
        180€ + VAT making in about 220€ in most european countrys…
        and for 249€ (obviously including VAT!) you already get an Sony Xperia Z with Snapdragon S4 Pro, 1080p, 2GB RAM, 32GB, LTE, IP55/57 and most noticeably a 24 month warranty, which doesnt include sending your phone around half the world at your own cost and keeping your fingers crossed that you will see either you phone or your money back for several weeks…
        So again: awesome price-performance ratio on that Xiaomi device!
        It is funny how you keep mentioning this “without contract”- thing every single comment just as if it would all but possible to buy phones without contracts in Europe…
        SiMobil isnt Vodafone, it is Telekom Austria
        I never turn off Wifi aswell but that doesnt change the fact that LTE already is dirt-cheap in Europe (and USA) if you know where to look for offerings
        
        IreMinMon
        April 23, 2014
        Well I guess things are different up in Germany. As far as I knew, SiMobil was at least once owned by Vodafone =/. I was quiete convinced it still was. Won’t be checking it,
        Xperia Z is large as fuck, has sharp corners and is covered with stupid glass. No detachable battery, 5″ is too much, beyond 350ppi you won’t see any difference, S600 < S400, LTE doesn't matter. I just can't like it, sorry.
        
        highwind
        April 23, 2014
        so, where is your argument?
        we talked about price-performance as you said: “Xiaomi produces devices with way best performance to price ratio” and xperia z DOES offer better p/p than mi2, because:
        – 2 year warranty IS better than 1 year warranty (regardless of YOU not wanting it)
        – LTE IS better than no-LTE (regardless of YOU not beeing able to find suitable contracts)
        – glas looks/feels more valuable than plastic (regardless of YOU seeming to like childish toy looks)
        – water/dust resistance IS better than no resistance (regardless of YOU not needing it)
        – and fullHD is better than non-fullHD (regardless of YOU not seeing a difference)
        S4 Pro IS NOT Snapdragon 400!
        S4 Pro is nearly thee same as Snapdragon 600
        Detachable battery? Rofl…
        IreMinMon
        April 23, 2014
        My argument is that Mi2S is better than Xperia Z. 2 year warranty definetely is better than 1 year warranty, but after 6 months, nothing appears to be wrong with my phone. I take good care of my phones, except for drops. I drop my phone on the floor quiete often, and thanks to the plastic and nicely rounded corners it never breaks. It might look and feel worse than Xperia Z, but I never gave a shit about it, because I don’t use it for modelling or picking up chicks, And glass provides ridiculously awful grip, I can’t hold that phone with single hand and not fear it will fall and break to pieces, because of fragile glass, horribly designed edges and awful grip. It’s also impossible to carry it in your front pocket for a long time straight because of enourmous size and sharp corners and edges.
        Water/Dust resistance really is better than nothing and is the only proper advantage Xperia Z has over Mi2S. Good screen will provide a good picture. If you can’t see any difference it means that 1080 isn’t better. It’s rather the same using more battery. And GPU.
        Detachable battery is important, I doubt I will soon consider a phone without one. It is better, regardless of YOU not needing it.