Xiaomi has shipped over 11 million smartphones so far this year

There’s no denying that Xiaomi has become and incredibly popular smartphone brand in a short time, but just how explosive their growth has been is genuinely surprising. Nobody is surprised when Apple or Samsung shift tens of millions of units in a matter of months, because they’re both global behemoths with marketing budgets bigger than some companies’ profits. When a relative newcomer from China ships 11 million smartphones in the first three months of the year? Yeah, that’s surprising.

In an indication of the rising popularity of Xiaomi devices, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has announced that it shipped 11 million smartphones in the first quarter of this year. For comparison, Xiaomi sold 18.7 million smartphones in 2013, up 160 percent from a year earlier and more than its initial target of 15 million devices. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun earlier stated that the company expects to ship 40 million smartphones for 2014, but says now that it could reach 60 million units instead. He also expects Xiaomi to ship 100 million smartphones next year. The rise in shipments is no doubt being aided by Xiaomi’s global expansion — the red-hot smartphone maker quietly expanded sales into Hong Kong and Taiwan, and more recently took a first step outside of Greater China by moving into Singapore.