Xiaomi's new phone aims premium market expanding

Chinese tech company Xiaomi Corp unveiled its latest smartphone series Mi 14 Ultra on Thursday night in Beijing, after it secured the top position in the Chinese smartphone market in the last quarter.

The move is also part of the company's broader push to expand its presence in the premium smartphone market amid intensified competition.

Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi, said Xiaomi has been the world's third-largest smartphone brand for 14 consecutive quarters, following only Samsung and Apple.

According to him, Xiaomi's high-end smartphone sales are steadily increasing. The Xiaomi 14 series captured 38 percent of the smartphone segment with a price range of 4,000 yuan ($556) to 6,000 yuan in its debut month, helping the company reclaim the top position among Chinese domestic smartphones in the last quarter of 2023.

Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which features cutting-edge camera technologies, is set to be officially available for sale on Feb 27 in China, starting from 6,499 yuan.

As artificial intelligence impacts all corners of the devices market, smartphones are expected to be the device driving the AI revolution into every home, according to a report by global market consultancy IDC.

IDC's preliminary forecast suggests 170 million next-generation AI smartphones will be shipped in 2024, representing almost 15 percent of total smartphone shipments and a sizeable jump from the roughly 51 million shipped in 2023.