Xiaomi continues its Western expansion… without any smartphones

Xiaomi only just recently announced that its Mi store will be launching in the United States soon but the company has made another announcement saying that the store will be making its way to Europe as well. This Westward expansion has been looked forward to by many but, unfortunately, the company won’t be selling the Xiaomi devices that people want most: smartphones. 

Hot on the heels of Xiaomi’s event in San Francisco where the Chinese company announced plans for its online Mi store to debut in the US, Xiaomi said at a trade show here that the same would happen for European markets. “It’s going to be a different Mi.com experience from what we have in our markets in Asia, because we’re not selling phones,” Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s global vice president, said Tuesday at a session at Mobile World Congress. “We’re only going to sell a small number of our hero accessories, things like the Mi Band, studio-grade headphones, in-ear headphones and the world’s most popular power banks,” he said. Like its US counterpart, the European store will serve as the company’s feedback loop for other products it’s making. “We increasingly see ourselves as a lifestyle brand,” said Barra.