Xiaomi, China’s largest smart phone vendor (the third largest in the world) posted profit of 347.48 million yuan ($56.15 million) on revenue of 26.58 billion yuan ($4.30 billion) in 2013, according to Chinese securities filings on Monday.
The company, known as the “Apple of China”, posted much lower revenue than Apple though. In Greater China Apple Inc reported 2013 revenue of $25.4 billion.
Xiaomi has been able to gain a significant percent of market share because of their lineup of smartphones that are considered to be high-quality and less expensive than those sold by its main competitors.
However, there has been speculation as to whether Xiaomi’s business model can generate sustainable profits demanded by public markets.The latest filings indicate that it is lagging behind the two market leaders, Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
The company was recently forced to stop selling some of its products in India after the Delhi High Court granted an ex parte injunction order against Xiaomi for infringement of Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson’s patents.
Xiaomi invests in Midea Group
The financial results were included in disclosures made to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange after the company invested 1.26 billion yuan (over $200 million) in Midea Group – an electrical appliance manufacturer in China – for a 1.29 percent stake in the firm.
The deal is going to give the two companies the ability to cooperate in smart home initiatives and electronic products. In a press release issued by Xiaomi the company said that it will soon sell an air purifier, equipped with a feature that enabled it to connect to wireless networks and be controlled by smartphones to monitor the air quality in real time.