Xiaomi's official Weibo has revealed that the company's investment in technology research and development (R&D) has increased steadily over the last two years.
On August 8, Xiaomi officially announced that its investment in R&D had increased at a compound annual growth rate of 30% over two years. In addition to wired and wireless fast charging, the company also has layout and output in chips.
As early as February 2021, Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder, revealed that the firm had invested CNY 10 billion in R&D in 2020. In 2021, Xiaomi will continue to maintain a high investment in R&D, which is expected to increase by 30% to 40% (about CNY 13 billion to CNY 14 billion).
The financial report shows that in 2020, the company invested CNY 9.3 billion in R&D, with a year-on-year growth of 23.5%. In the first quarter of 2021, its R&D expenditure was CNY 3 billion, representing an increase of 61%.
Although Xiaomi's R&D investment still lags behind some leading mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple, Huawei and Samsung, the firm's sales have been impressive since 2021.
The Canalys report shows that in Q2 2021, the global smartphone shipments were about 316 million units, with a month-on-month decrease of 9%. Among them, Xiaomi ranked second with shipments of 52.8 million units, showing a year-on-year growth of 83%. This is also the first time that the company ranked second in terms of shipments.
On August 5, a report released by Counterpoint Research, a data research firm, showed that in June 2021, Xiaomi's global mobile phone market share rose to 17.1%, surpassing Samsung (15.7%) and Apple (14.3%). Meanwhile, its mobile phone sales grew by 26%, making it the fastest-growing brand for the month.