Xiaomi

Xiaomi was founded in 2010 in Beijing by Lei Jun and a group of partners. It started with software: MIUI, a customized version of Android that it updated every week based on users' comments. A year later it sold its first phone, with high-end parts at a low price, sold mostly online to save on stores and middlemen. Phones, including its cheaper Redmi line, are still its biggest business.

Around the phone it built an ecosystem of connected devices: TVs, fitness bands, robot vacuums, air purifiers, electric scooters, rice cookers, lamps. Many are made by smaller companies that Xiaomi invests in and helps with design and distribution, all controlled from the same app. In 2023 it replaced MIUI with HyperOS, a system meant to run across phones, home devices and cars alike. In 2024 it started selling its own electric cars in China.

Its business model is unusual: Xiaomi has said it keeps the profit margin on its hardware low and earns more from internet services, such as ads, app recommendations and paid content inside its software. The idea is to sell many affordable devices, keep people in its ecosystem and make money over time from the services they use.