When the global consumer electronics industry encountered the cold wind of the memory chip “super cycle” in the spring of 2026, the outside world looked at Xiaomi Group with a little more caution.
In the first quarter of 2026, Xiaomi calmly responded to cyclical pressures with a single-quarter revenue of 99.1 billion yuan. The operating profit of its mobile phone × AIoT business nearly tripled from the previous quarter, and its four major business segments are moving forward steadily.
To be specific, the revenue of the mobile phone × AIoT segment was 79.3 billion yuan.
Among them, the smartphone business revenue was 44.3 billion yuan, and global shipments ranked among the top three for 23 consecutive quarters; the IoT and consumer products business revenue was 24.7 billion yuan, and overseas revenue hit a record high; the Internet service business grew steadily, with revenue reaching 9.5 billion yuan; the revenue from innovative business segments such as smart electric vehicles and AI was 19.9 billion yuan, an increase of 6.9% against the trend.
Under the new industry cycle, Xiaomi is no longer a single mobile phone company. Facing the pressure of the storage cycle, it has built solid resilience with diversified ecology, high-endization and globalization; facing the huge waves of the AI era, it has invested heavily in the future with unprecedented R&D investment and a clear strategic path.
Plastic resilience: Xiaomi strengthens its ability to survive the storage surge cycle
In the first quarter of 2026, the global technology industry will face severe tests.
The prices of key components represented by memory chips continue to soar, forming a storage “super cycle”.
In this context, Xiaomi handed over a valuable answer sheet.
Xiaomi’s single-quarter revenue was 99.1 billion yuan, close to the 100 billion mark.
What deserves more attention is not the absolute numbers, but the improvement of its structural indicators.
During the period, the operating profit of the mobile phone × AIoT business nearly tripled from the previous month. This signal is extremely valuable in the context of intensified storage price increases.
It shows that Xiaomi is not passively enduring cost pressure, but has achieved substantial restoration of profitability by proactively optimizing its business structure.
Specifically, the smartphone business has made steady progress, achieving revenue of 44.3 billion yuan, and its shipments have ranked among the top three in the world for 23 consecutive quarters.
IoT and consumer products achieved revenue of 24.7 billion yuan, with gross profit margin remaining high at 25.2%.
Among them, overseas growth momentum is strong, with revenue hitting a record high.
Internet services have strong development vitality, achieving revenue of 9.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%, and gross profit margin of 76.1%, which remains high.
Xiaomi’s monthly active users globally and in mainland China have steadily increased. As of March 2026, global monthly active users reached 746 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%; monthly active users in mainland China reached 196 million, a record high.
Innovative businesses such as smart electric vehicles and AI performed better than the market.
Revenue in the first quarter was 19.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%.
During the period, Xiaomi Motors delivered 80,856 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%.
As of April 23, 2026, Xiaomi Motors has delivered more than 655,000 vehicles.
Regarding stress resistance, Lu Weibing, partner and president of Xiaomi Group, said, “Try not to increase the price of old products that are already on the market. If they really want to increase, they will be the last to increase and the increase will be the smallest.” “We cannot simply pass on the cost increase to consumers. Our approach is to redefine products under the new cost structure and dynamically balance price, scale and profits.”
The collaborative strategy of “Entire Ecosystem for People, Vehicles and Homes” has become the “ballast stone” for diversifying cyclical risks.
Looking back on the last cycle, Xiaomi’s business focus is highly concentrated on mobile phones, and its ability to resist risks is relatively simple.
Today, its business landscape is completely different.
Looking at the gross profit contribution structure, the proportion of mobile phones dropped from 31% to 20%, IoT increased from 24% to 28%, and innovative businesses such as smart electric vehicles were created from scratch, contributing 25% of the gross profit.
In the first quarter, the automotive business saw revenue of nearly 20 billion yuan despite the market falling more than 20% year-on-year.
This diversified income structure allows the cyclical fluctuations of a single category to be effectively hedged.
As Lei Jun emphasized: “Building a car takes ten years, not one month.” This strategic determination gives Xiaomi more room for maneuver and confidence when facing short-term cost pressures.
Global leading institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also agree that Xiaomi is no longer a company that only relies on mobile phone cycles. Its unique ecological layout and AI strategy are bringing long-term growth.
Strong core: Xiaomi’s high-end globalization improves response capabilities
The ability to transcend cycles does not come out of thin air. It is rooted in the company’s long-term and unremitting strategic development.
For Xiaomi, high-end and globalization are the two cornerstones for consolidating its fundamentals and improving its ability to resist risks.
The high-end capabilities of all categories continue to deepen, becoming the core barrier to cope with cyclical pressures.
The financial report shows that the global average selling price (ASP) of Xiaomi smartphones in the first quarter increased by 8.2% year-on-year, hitting a record high.
In mainland China’s mobile phone market priced at RMB 3,000 and above, Xiaomi’s sales share has reached 23.5%.
This is not only an improvement in numbers, but also a victory in brand value and user mind occupation.
The high-end potential of the automotive business is also eye-catching.
According to Bitauto’s terminal sales rankings from January to April 2026, Xiaomi SU7 ranks first in sales of pure electric cars with more than 200,000 yuan, and Xiaomi YU7 ranks second in SUV sales. The two main models have firmly occupied the mainstream high-end new energy market.
On May 21, the Xiaomi YU7 family ushered in a major evolution, launching two new models, YU7 standard version and YU7 GT.
The advantages of globalization are further highlighted, and overseas markets have become a strong growth engine.
Xiaomi has been deeply involved in the global market for many years and has accumulated rich overseas capabilities.
In the first quarter, this advantage exploded: IoT overseas revenue achieved double-digit growth, hitting a record high and approaching the 10 billion mark.
Key categories such as tablets, TVs, and major appliances have achieved impressive overseas growth rates.
At the same time, preparations for the overseas launch of cars are in full swing, and the Xiaomi Motors European R&D Center has been officially established, bringing together experts from top car companies such as Porsche, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.
Lu Weibing pointed out the huge potential of overseas markets: “The overseas market space is about twice that of the domestic market, and Xiaomi’s IoT overseas revenue currently accounts for only one-half of the domestic revenue, with almost four times the room for growth.” He revealed that Xiaomi is accelerating the overseas expansion of major appliances and deepening cooperation with global e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Shopee.
Globalization is not only an increase in revenue, but also a key strategy for diversifying risks in a single market.
The stickiness of smart ecology is doubled.
As of the end of the first quarter, the number of connected devices to the Xiaomi AIoT platform exceeded 1.1 billion, and the number of users with 5 or more connected devices reached 23.6 million.
These data show that Xiaomi’s smart ecosystem is not only expanding in scale, but also increasing user stickiness.
In the AI era, this is becoming a moat that is difficult for Xiaomi to copy.
Planning for the future: Xiaomi AI research and development reconstructs the entire ecology of people, cars and homes
If solid performance and solid fundamentals are Xiaomi’s “now”, then extraordinary investment in AI clearly outlines Xiaomi’s “future”.
In the past 16 years, Xiaomi has experienced two rounds of crises, and each crisis ushered in a period of rapid growth.
Today, Xiaomi is facing both the pressure of the storage cycle and the opportunity of AI transformation, and the value of the latter has been ignored by many people.
Xiaomi is fully embracing AI and positioning it as the core engine for reconstructing the human and car family.
In the first quarter, Xiaomi’s R&D investment reached 9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%.
Lei Jun announced: “In the next five years, we will continue to increase investment in R&D, with a goal of at least 200 billion yuan. This year’s R&D and capital expenditures on AI will be at least 16 billion yuan, and the total investment in the next three years will exceed 60 billion yuan.”
This investment is already bearing fruit.
At the base model layer, Xiaomi MiMo – V2.5 – Pro ranks first in the world’s authoritative large model comprehensive intelligence list Artificial Analysis, with both comprehensive intelligence index and agent index ranking first in the world’s open source models.
At the application layer, Xiaomi is using AI to comprehensively reconstruct the “people-car home”.
On the mobile phone, Xiaomi has launched the industry’s first mobile phone “lobster” – Xiaomi miclaw, and has started closed beta testing.
Lei Jun said: “Only put forward a rough demand, and the AI will find a way to solve it, and the more it is used, the smarter it will be.” This AI Agent, which integrates the entire ecology of people, cars, and homes, is expanding from mobile phones to tablets, PCs, Macs, screen speakers, etc., and will be deeply integrated with “Super Little Love” in the future to become the prototype of a new generation of AIOS.
On the automotive side, Xiaomi’s intelligent driving technology route has moved from “perception and imitation” to “understanding and reasoning.”
The Xiaomi XLA cognitive large model architecture released in March this year, and the Xiaomi OneVL upgraded in May, are the first in the industry to unify multiple technical routes such as VLA, world model, and latent space reasoning.
In the field of smart home and robots, Xiaomi’s layout is equally far-reaching.
Xiaomi Miloco’s whole-house smart solution upgrades traditional “passive control” to “active service”; humanoid robots have officially settled in automobile factories for practical training, taking a key step towards physical AI.
When summarizing the AI strategy, Lu Weibing emphasized: Through AI reconstruction, Xiaomi’s business model and competitiveness will be improved to a big level.
He revealed that the AI Token plan has begun to contribute some revenue, but commercialization has just begun. “When physical AI arrives, Xiaomi will be the one with the most advantage.”
As Lei Jun said: “Today’s Xiaomi has reached a big level compared to five years ago. I believe that Xiaomi in five years will definitely reach a bigger level than today.” When the tide of the cycle recedes, when the dawn of AI shines, a different level of Xiaomi is accelerating.
