The Smartphone Companies That Shook Up India And China Are Ready To Colonize The World

Leo Mirani | Quartz | October 25, 2013

You’ve never heard of Micromax (slogan: “Nothing like anything“) but in just five years it’s gone from a standing start to commanding over a fifth of the Indian smartphone market, behind only Samsung. Its stated ambition to is to control a third of the market. Its swift rise mirrors that of China’s Xiaomi (slogan: “Just for fans“), which within three years overtook Apple for the number six spot in China’s much more competitive marketplace. (Even their orange logos spelling out “Mi” look similar.) Now both companies are looking beyond their national borders to take their explosive growth to the world.

Encouraged by early successes in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, where Micromax “tested the waters,” the Indian firm will launch phones in Russia and Romania by the end of the year. “If I am able to crack Russia, we will also able to capture the whole [of] Europe,” co-founder Rahul Sharma told India’s Business Line newspaper. Xiaomi is also looking to expand beyond China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, though its boss says he hasn’t yet decided where to go (it definitely won’t be the United States)...