Xiaomi held its
first Mi Fan event in New York City where the company's goal was to create buzz
about the Chinese brand that is slowly entering the US market. Less than 700 Mi
Fans registered to attend the two-day event where Xiaomi showed off various
products that the company offers around the world.
Through tomorrow,
Saturday December 8, Xiaomi is showing off its latest smartphones: the Mi MIX
3, the Mi A2, the Xiaomi Mi 8, and the POCOPHONE F1 - which is still the best
value smartphone with a Snapdragon 845 CPU.
The event also
showcased the Mi Home app and its compatible products like smart bulbs, smart
plugs, lamps, and a laser projector - in total, Xiaomi exhibited over 50
ecosystem products including cameras, and toys which are all connected to
Xiaomi's IoT plaform.
As part of the
celebration, Xiaomi is offering the Mi Box S - which has been available from
Walmart for a while now - for just US$ 40. It does everything a Chromecast Ultra
can do but it also comes with a voice remote that's compatible with Google
Assistant and it supports Android TV apps.
Xiaomi has already
been selling a few products at Walmart, but three of the new products coming to
Walmart were shown at the event:
- Mi Wireless Charging Pad: which was first introduced with the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S.
- Mi Robot Builder Rober: A 1,086 piece kit that can be built as a rover, tank, or a bulldozer
- Mi Home Security Camera: home surveillance camera with 360-degree view controllable with Mi Home app
This was a good and
bad year for Chinese companies: ZTE was banned from the US and Huawei hardware
is strictly banned from government and carrier use. On the plus side, OnePlus
launched the 6T on T-Mobile, putting the widely unknown (to Americans) Chinese
brand into carrier stores and Xiaomi sees positive reception to brand.
Xiaomi's strategy
of bringing lifestyle and home products before bringing smartphones is a great
idea. The smartphone market is so saturated in the US already so building
rapport with the brand first is a great way to eventually introduce its
smartphones once Xiaomi thinks the US market is ready.
