Li Wanqiang, vice president for the Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, has revealed to local media that the company plans to launch the second-generation Xiaomi smartphones in the second half of 2012, aiming at sales of over 10 million units.
Li said that compared with the first-generation products, the second-generation Xiaomi smartphones will have improved production capacity. For the production of the first-generation products, the company only signed with Inventec Appliances as its supplier and only one product line was used to make Xiaomi smartphones; while the second-generation products will be from Foxconn's product lines. In regards to shipment, the company will have four major logistic centers by the end of this year, fully prepared for the launch of the new products.
Li did not reveal any more detail about the new product, but said the company will focus on the quality of the product to realize word of mouth marketing.
Prior to this, Chinese local media reported that the second-generation Xiaomi smartphone will adopt a 4-inch screen made by Sharp or Toshiba; a 2.5GHz quad-core processor; a five million pixel camera; a 12 million pixel rear camera; the Android 4.0 ICS customized MIUI system; and the estimated retail price of CNY2,499.
Xiaomi smartphone was published in China on August 16, 2011 and was officially launched in the market on October 20, 2011. So far, its sales volume has reached 1.5 million units.