Xiaomi offers a wide range of consumer electronics, and starting early next year, that’ll include a couple of laptops, which is rather odd when you consider the fact that Xiaomi is primarily a smartphone company and the PC market has been far from prosperous in recent years. Either way, the Xiaomi brand is probably strong enough for the laptops to be successful, but that’ll really depend on how powerful they are and how much they’ll cost. Unfortunately, none of that information is available at the moment, but it does look like both of the laptops will be powered by Linux, which is definitely interesting, assuming that those claims are true.
Xiaomi, a privately owned Chinese electronics manufacturer and currently the world’s fourth largest smartphone maker, has been reported to be working on its first laptop line release, which is due to be unveiled next year. According to a press release by Inventec, it is currently collaborating with Xiaomi to produce two laptops, which would be introduced under the Xiaomi brand. The laptops are reportedly scheduled for an early 2016 release. Richard Lee, Inventec chairman, confirmed the collaboration last month, during the 12th Cross-Taiwan Strait conference, where the standards for IT were discussed. Moreover, Lee revealed that Xiaomi is banking on its 200 million customers and plans to ship the laptop units some time within the first half of 2016 in hopes that the current Xiaomi device users will buy its new laptops. “At least they will create a different look for their laptops, just like their smartphones,” said Lee in reference to Xiaomi’s line of midrange handhelds that he claims are stylish and made up of premium components. Inventec Appliance Corp., an Inventec Corp. subsidiary, assembled more than 30 million handsets for its Chinese partner.
