Xiaomi to expand non-mobile business; bets on TVs, wearables, tablets

Xiaomi is doubling down on TVs, tablets and wearables in India while pushing premium smartphones, aiming to lift non-phone revenues to the high-20% range

In a shift in strategy, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is focusing on expanding in India its share in businesses other than smartphones, such as televisions, wearables, and tablets, even as it makes a big push towards premiumisation in mobile phones, in which volumes are stagnating. 

Sudhin Mathur, chief operating officer, Xiaomi India, said: “We have been doubling down on our non-smartphone business in India this year. That has contributed much more even though smartphones remain the dominant business. This year non-smartphones accounted for 14-15 per cent of our revenues and went up to 18-19 per cent in the festival season.  Our aim is to hit the high 20s in this category.” 

This is reflected in the numbers. Tablets grew over 140 per cent in the second quarter this year. Earlier the large contributor in TVs was the 32-inch models but now the premium QLED series has shown five times growth this year. And Xiaomi globally has over 400 products, including home appliances, outside smartphones. 

The Chinese major, which had top position in smartphones in India, has been out of the list of the first five for a while. In Q3 2025, based on the Counterpoint Research data, it has lost share in value terms from 6 per cent to 4 per cent and volumes from 11 per cent to 9 per cent (though it inched in fourth spot) over the same quarter last year. 

Mathur said the company’s strategy was to recover its strength in smartphones. While it started as a volume player, the market in the past few years has changed with growth in volumes slowing but the average selling price is going up. 

“We have aligned our strategy with the new market dynamics and the consumer shift towards premiumisation. Currently the average selling price (ASP) in Android smartphones is ₹18,000 and we are slightly lower than that. In 2026 our focus will be to grow the ASP higher than the market ASP, which will help us to increase our value share.” 

Xiaomi, however, ruled out exporting smartphones though the government has been pushing global smartphone makers to do so. 

Mathur said: “Export strategy is based on business economics and your manufacturing footprint. In India we are manufacturing through EMS (electronic manufacturing services) partners and there the current capacity is good enough to serve our domestic needs. We have not evaluated export as part of our current strategy. We used to export to Bangladesh but not anymore.” 

However, the Chinese giant is pushing localisation in smartphone manufacturing. Mathur said smartphones, without taking into consideration printed circuit boards, had hit a localisation rate of 25-27 per cent, but with printed circuit boards it was 16-17 per cent. “We will continue to work on higher localisation based on component infrastructure, which exists. Many companies (that have applied for the production-linked incentive in electronics components) are yet to set up shop, but will start in two-three years.”  

On the impact of the recent and growing shortage of memory chips required to make smartphones, Mathur said: “An increase in the price of smartphones is imminent and we are evaluating it. Everyone in the industry has already done so. It is not possible to absorb the entire increase in the price of memory chips.” However, he said the impact of it might not be very pronounced on consumers buying through equated monthly instalments but maybe on those who paid in cash.