Xiaomi’s Newest Sales Representative is a Smartphone Vending Machine

The vending machine acts just like a food vending machine found in offices. Pay, select a product and purchase is done

Xiaomi seems to have found a new way to advertise as well as sell its smartphones and accessories in Bengaluru. The China-based company has introduced a smartphone and accessories vending machine at the Manyata Tech Park, Bengaluru. Manu Kumar Jain, Global VP, Xiaomi tweeted that the company is planning to introduce more of these in India.

Jain’s tweet read, “Number 1 innovation from Number 1 brand! An all-new way to get your favorite Xiaomi products: Mi Express Kiosk. Mi Fans can now purchase smartphones & accessories from vending machines & pay via cards, cash, or UPI. So easy! Installed Manyata Tech Park, Bengaluru. More coming soon! He also shared pictures of the vending machine.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s Founder and CEO was also present at the unveiling of Xiaomi’s first vending machine in India. Several reports by analyst firms have termed Xiaomi as the leader in the smartphone segment in the country.

Xiaomi is on a roll in India

One of the youngest smartphone companies in India, Xiaomi has been leading the smartphone segment for several quarters now. Xiaomi, as per Counterpoint’s latest report shipped 27.8 million devices during Q1 2019. It is to be noted here that Counterpoint’s report referred to the figures as shipments made by Xiaomi in the global market.

IDC’s report, on the other hand had pointed out that Xiaomi was able to ship 25 million smartphones during Q1 2019. IDC also pointed out towards India as the only market in Asia/Pacific where Xiaomi grew in Q1 2019. Canalys, in its Q1 2019 shipment estimates, reported that Xiaomi was able to ship 27.8 million devices dirong Q1 2019.

However, the China-based smartphone maker had recently issued a statement opposing figures shared by research companies for Q1 2019. The figures shared by research companies, as per Xiaomi, were not accurate or fair. Lei Jun, Chairman, Xiaomi Corporation, wrote an letter explaining the difference between actual figures and those quoted by research companies.

Jun wrote, “The information is inaccurate and unfair, and deviates from our actual performance in terms of shipment of smartphones. Our shipment of smartphones in the first quarter of 2019 exceeded 27.5 million.”