Xiaomi has announced plans to launch its range of smartphones in Africa by September, Forbes reports.
The company has also partnered with Mobile in Africa to serve as its distributor across sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile in Africa is headed by RJ van Spaandonk who’s also the executive director of Core Group; a distributor of Apple in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Xiaomi has developed a model that works across emerging markets; Xiaomi sells its smartphone with a low profit margin and makes the real profit off software sales. Of course, this made us talk on why Xiaomi’s Mi4i smartphone should be introduced into the African Market. The company knows this and will be capitalizing on it to offset the emergence of Android One recently launched in Africa by Google.
“There is a great need for mobile technology in Africa that is of top-notch quality but still affordable. What I found in Xiaomi is a company, and a business model, that can accommodate the needs of African consumers,” Van Spaandonk said.
Xiaomi will be presenting two smartphones at its launch and these are the Red Mi 2 set for $160 and the Mi 4 that will go for $320.
Established in 2010, Xiaomi has a stranglehold on China’s smartphone market and recently delved into India. International Data Corporation named Xiaomi the third largest smartphone maker in the world, coming behind the likes of Samsung and Apple in global smartphone sales last year.
Photo Credit:”Johannesburg“. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.
