Xiaomi eyes offline expansion

China Mobile hopes to sell 30m of firm's handsets this year

Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi Corp unveiled a new smartphone with China Mobile Communications Corp on Thursday, as the company steps up efforts to expand offline retailing channels.

China Mobile, the country's largest telecom mobile carrier by subscribers, said it hopes to sell 30 million Xiaomi handsets this year, signaling a boost for Xiaomi, which is wrestling with declining shipments and mounting competition from rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.