Xiaomi reported fourth-quarter revenues of CNY 70.5 billion, up 24.8 percent year-on-year. The company shipped 42.3 million smartphones in the period, up 29.7 percent from a year earlier thanks to strong growth in its home market China and continued expansion abroad. Net profit more than tripled, to CNY 8.8 billion from CNY 2.4 billion a year ago, and rose 36.7 percent on an adjusted basis to CNY 3.2 billion.
Over the full year 2020, Xiaomi's sales increased 19.4 percent to CNY 245.9 billion, after a difficult first half of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak. Just under half of revenues came from outside China, at CNY 122.4 billion (+34%). Smartphone shipments were up 17.5 percent to 146.4 million units, and the company said it had nearly 400 million users worldwide of its Mi UI by year-end, up 28 percent from 2019. Net profit doubled to CNY 20.3 billion in 2020 and increased 12.8 percent on an adjusted basis to CNY 13.0 billion.
Xiaomi improved its smartphone market share in 2020 after growing faster than the overall market. The company said it also strengthened its position in the premium segment, with 10 million phones sold in the price segment over CNY 3,000/EUR 300 last year. The new Mi 11 flagship released in December and priced from CNY 3,999 sold over 1 million units within 21 days. This helped boost the average selling price at Xiaomi to CNY 1,040 in 2020, up 6 percent from a year earlier. The lower cost Redmi Note 9 series launched in March 2020 contributed over 30 million units sold last year.
The company's other consumer and IoT products showed slower growth, with sales up 8.6 percent in 2020 to CNY 67.4 billion. Growth was 8.0 percent in Q4, for sales of CNY 21.1 billion.
Along with the annual results, Xiaomi announced a deal to buy the rest of the shares of ZMI, a maker of portable power banks and other phone accessories. It already owned just under half the shares and will pay USD 205 million in cash and shares for the remainder.
