Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi just set up an African unit to ramp up its sales in a continent populated by 1.2 billion residents. At the same time, the company has also merged its operations in South Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia, forming a new Southeast Asia unit.

IDC data shows that Xiaomi continued its effort to grow in foreign markets in Q3 2018 through channel partnerships while the firm had its first annual drop in the domestic market at the same time.

Xiaomi has pinned high hopes on foreign markets over recent years. However, for the African continent, Xiaomi is definitely a latecomer compared with Shenzhen-based Transsionwhich is already the top vendor in the African continent, boasting highly popular brands including Tecno, Infinix, and Itel.

Editor: Nadine Freischlad & Ben Jiang