South Korean media: Xiaomi has broken through the "China phone graveyard"! On April 11, South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo published an article stating that in Japan's smartphone market, known as the "graveyard of Chinese phones," Xiaomi has caught up with Samsung Electronics and Sony by emphasizing cost-effectiveness. Xiaomi's strategy is to open offline stores in Japan to accelerate market expansion and maintain its upward trend. Xiaomi's first offline store in Japan opened last month on the 22nd at AEON Mall in Saitama City. Industry insiders believe that expanding offline stores is aimed at accelerating the rapid growth of Japan's smartphone market. According to data from market research company Counterpoint Research, calculated by sales volume, Xiaomi's share of the Japanese smartphone market was 6% last year, on par with Samsung Electronics (6%) and Sony (6%). In 2023, due to lack of separate statistics, Xiaomi's market share is estimated to be less than 1%. Apple holds half of the Japanese smartphone market share, while the remaining share is divided among Samsung Electronics, Sony, Sharp, and Google. Notably, while other major smartphone brands are seeing their market shares decline, Xiaomi is growing independently. Specifically, Apple's market share dropped from 53% to 49%, Google's from 9% to 8%, Samsung's from 7% to 6%, and Sony's from 8% to 6%. Xiaomi's rapid growth is interpreted as a result of the popularity of high cost-effective products during economically challenging times. Counterpoint Research analysis suggests that Xiaomi's growth is due to Japanese consumers' preference for affordable smartphones. Xiaomi released mid-to-low-end products in Japan, including the Redmi 14 series priced at 100,000 Korean won and the Poco series priced between 200,000 to 300,000 Korean won. Providing diverse choices for Japanese consumers, such as expanding the high-priced product lineup like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, has also positively contributed to increasing market share. Experts say that unlike Korea's telecom-centered terminal sales market structure, this is also why Xiaomi has been able to successfully expand its market. It is explained that because it is not mainstream to sell through telecom agencies in Japan as opposed to Korea, online sales strategies have proven effective." Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829090986034250/ Disclaimer: This article solely represents the author's viewpoint.