Smartphone Maker Xiaomi’s Sales More Than Doubled in 2013

Fast-growing Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc. sold nearly 19 million phones last year. But it wasn’t quite enough to beat the expectations of the Beijing-based company’s founder and leader.

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Xiaomi CEO Leijun showed off a new Xiaomi smartphone in September.

Xiaomi is closely held and doesn’t release detailed results. Mr. Lei said that the company posted sales of 31.6 billion yuan ($5.22 billion) last year, which he said was more than double the 2012 result.
Near the beginning of last year, Xiaomi said it projected sales of 15 million phones. But in a September interview, Mr. Lei told The Wall Street Journal he was thinking bigger. “At the beginning of this year we said 1.5 million,” he said, in an apparent slip of the tongue. “But actually, what we want for this year is 20 million.”

A spokeswoman said Xiaomi was sticking to its original 2013 prediction of 15 million phones. “We kept our promise,” she said.
But she added, “we are making efforts to do better.”
–Yang Jie and Carlos Tejada