1. XIAOMI For launching low-cost, high-quality smart TVs and -phones to steal market share from industry stalwarts. At just three years old, Xiaomi is a neophyte no more. The consumer-electronics company released four new smartphones last year and sold almost 19 million of them—sales were up more than 150% from 2012—staking out a significant piece of the Chinese market with its low-cost, feature-rich devices. Xiaomi’s founder, Lei Jun, takes a radically new approach to the smartphone business model: Instead of brandishing phones’ high-cost luxury appeal like that Cupertino company, Jun sells them in buzz-generating flash sales at razor-thin margins, then takes advantage of revenue streams provided by software. Last year, Xiaomi’s earnings hit $5.2 billion as users downloaded more than 1 billion apps.
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To read the original article: The Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in China | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
