China's Smartphone Maker Sells 150,000 Phones In 12 Minutes

By Ng Che Yan BEIJING, April 26 (Bernama) -- China's smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi Corp, on Tuesday sold 150,000 smartphones in just 12 minutes during its online sale, indicating great market potential and growing demand for such gadgets in China. More than 1.65 million Xiaomi phones were sold since it entered the market on Oct 20 last year. Xiaomi only sells its products via online sales with limited number of units available at certain periods of time due to limited production capacity, the company said in a statement. The Xiaomi phone, which cost around 2,000 yuan (US$317), is less than half the price of the popular Apple iPhone and is positioned as a high-end smartphone at affordable prices. China has now become the top mobile phone manufacturer in the world, having exported 875 million mobile phones in 2011, valued at US$62.76 billion. -- BERNAMA