For the six months to June 30, the company also posted net income of 8.3 billion yuan, nearly double the 4.5 billion yuan recorded during the same period last year. Breaking the company’s revenue down into segments, the company’s smartphone business increased by 86.8% year-over-year to 59 billion yuan, off the back of selling 52.9 million units and knocking Apple off the number two spot in the global smartphone market based on data by Canalys. The company’s IoT and lifestyle products business chipped in close to 21 billion yuan, following a 36% increase on last year, while internet services contributed 7 billion yuan in total revenue. During the period, the number of IoT devices that were connected to its AIoT platform reached 374.5 million units, Xiaomi added. Meanwhile, its monthly active users of its AI Assistant exceeded the 100 million mark, hitting 102 million, while its Mi Home App grew to 56.5 million. Xiaomi stated it also experienced strong growth momentum in markets outside of China, with sales amounting to 43.6 billion yuan, and accounted for nearly 50% of total revenue. The company further added that during the second quarter, it recorded 3.1 billion yuan in R&D expenses, representing a year-over-year increase of 56.5%. “We remain steadfast in our pursuit of technological advancement which strengthens the backbone of our business,” Xiaomi noted. Last month, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun announced the company would further expand its R&D team by recruiting more than 5,000 engineers this year. Jun added the company predicts R&D expenses will exceed 13 billion yuan this year, compared to the nearly 10 billion yuan it spent in 2020. During its results, the company also announced its acquisition of autonomous driving technology firm Deepmotion for $77.3 million. It will form part of Xiaomi’s broader plans to plough $10 billion to start a new electric vehicle business, touting it believes electric vehicles are a crucial part of its smart ecosystem.  “It is an inseparable and crucial part that forms the smart ecosystem; it is an inevitable choice to expand the integrated ecosystem of AIoT smart living; it is also the only path for us to fulfil the vision of the company and to bring a better life to everyone through technology,” Jun said in an open letter published in March. 

Xiaomi’s latest flagship smartphone has an AMOLED selfie viewfinderXiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Large, powerful and expensiveUS agrees to remove Xiaomi from Communist Chinese military company listXiaomi Q1 net profit jumps to 6.1 billion yuan from growth across all business segmentsXiaomi to invest $10 billion into new electric vehicle business