Visitors will check out Xiaomi mobile phones at Mobile World Congress 2025 held in Barcelona, Spain on March 3rd. [Photo/Xinhua]
Beijing – You'll be walking into the Xiaomi store, which opened overseas in Germany, Japan and South Korea this year, finding more than the flagship smartphones of the Chinese technology giant.
Lines of connected devices line up on shelves showing the smart life ecosystem powered by wearables, smart TVs, robot vacuums, home appliances, electric scooters and AI.
Backed by robust supply chains and cutting-edge AI innovations, companies like Xiaomi, Iflytek, Lenovo and Huawei are more than competing on price alone.
Today, they race to become an important part of the daily life of global consumers by seamlessly integrating into their living rooms and offices.
“We are committed to providing a range of services that are important to us,” said Evan Kirchheimer, Chief Research Officer at Omdia, global technology research and advisory firm. “AI is essentially restructuring how appliances interact with users.
Xiaomi's global journey perfectly illustrates this change. In the early days, the company entered the international market with a large focus on smartphones. However, since 2018, they have steadily expanded their product lineup to create a product ecosystem with smartphone integration and artificial intelligence of things, including other smart devices, said Zeng Xuezhong, Senior Vice President and President of International Business at Xiaomi.
This year, Xiaomi launched its first major push for large-scale home appliances into overseas markets, entering Southeast Asia. They also announced plans to export electric vehicles by 2027.
“Our goal is to gradually build a global human vehicle home ecosystem where smartphones, cars and home devices connect seamlessly,” Zeng says. “This is an important pillar supporting the next stage of globalization, characterized by business model exports.”
Xiaomi is not alone in this AI and ecosystem-driven global push. In a six-month report in 2025, major Chinese AI company Iflytek revealed that overseas AI hardware sales have more than tripled year-on-year, and that AI laptops are gaining significant popularity in Japan and South Korea.
Iflytek Chairman Liu Qingfeng points out three distinct growth drivers in the company's global expansion. “The international deployment of large-scale AI models, integrated AI hardware software products, and globalization of our ecosystem are critical to our success.”
Omdia's industry data creates a promising picture for the sector.
In 2025, AI-powered home appliances, including AI mobile phones, AI PCS and AI headphones, are projected to exceed 500 million units, accounting for 40% of all home appliance and electronics sold worldwide. Chinese brands already stand out in these high growth categories.
OMDIA data shows that in the second quarter, international shipments of AI-equipped smartphones from Chinese brands skyrocketed by 195% year-on-year, with Xiaomi, Honor and Oppo leading the pack. In the AI PC space, 30% of all global PC cargo in the second quarter was AI-enabled, with Chinese tech company Lenovo holding a 21% share of its segment.
Kirchheimer pointed out that the success of the Chinese brand stems from two important strengths. First, their complete supply chain and large manufacturing scale allowed them to respond quickly to global demand, compete for costs, and deliver products on time. Second, heavily invested in innovation, especially in AI, system-level synergies and intelligent sensing technology.
This global expansion is also driven by policy support. In a recent directive, the Chinese government has set a clear target for AI adoption. By 2027, the adoption rate of next-generation smart devices and intelligent agents should be above 70%, and by 2030, AI should increase to over 90% as the basis for China's high quality economic development.
To take advantage of these new opportunities, Kirchheimer said market players must double their innovation. Develop new products for the niche market, deepen the application of AI on devices, and enhance inter-device collaboration and user experience.
“In the past, Chinese brands were known for being affordable,” he said. “Now they are known for being innovative. Tomorrow they may be known for their ecosystems that make their devices essential.”
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