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BEIJING, March 25 (TMTPOST)— Xiaomi Corporation, China’s leading smartphone maker, ended 2022 with less-than-expected quarterly declines in both the top and bottom line despite ongoing headwinds including Covid-19 curbs and economic weakness.

Source: Visual China

Xiaomi’s sales of RMB66.05 billion (US$9.6 billion) in the quarter ended December 31 beats the analysts’ forecast of RMB65.36 billion, but a 22.8% year-over-year (YoY) slide suggests the largest ever quarterly decline for the Beijing-based company founded in 2010. It is also a negative growth for the fourth consecutive revenue. The adjusted net profit dropped 67.3% YoY to RMB1.46 billion, still ahead of expected RMB1.28 billion. The total revenue for the year 2022 missed projection at RMB280.04 billion, decreasing 14.7% from the previous year, and the net profit of RMB8.52 billion also fell short of analysts’ estimates, with a yearly decrease of 61.4%.

Xiaomi said the slide in the fourth quarter of 2022 was mainly due to limited improvement of the worldwide macro environment and the high inventory in overseas market. Its core business smartphone generated sales of RMB36.7 billion and the global shipment reached3.7 million units that quarter. The contribution from the premium smartphones as a percentage of total smartphone shipments in mainland China increased 6.8% YoY and the average selling price (ASP) in the market grew more than 14%, thanks to advancement of Xiaomi’s premiumization strategy. The smartphone revenue for the year reached RMB167.2 billion and our global smartphone shipments amounted to 150.5 million units, decreasing 19.9% and 20.9% from 2021, respectively. The firmed noted such double-digit decrease was partially offset by the increase in ASP. Its annual ASP of smartphones hit a new record of RMB1,111. It mainly attributed the sluggish smartphone sales to the weakened demand of the overall mobile market affected by global macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical disruptions.

The global smartphone market suffered a significant fall in 2022, even in the last quarter—usually a big holiday period. Worldwide shipments dropped four quarters in a row with a 18% decrease in the fourth quarter, leaving the full-year market down 12% from 2021, according to the tech market analyst firm Canalys. The year 2022 saw global shipments fell below 1.2 billion, the lowest since 2014. Among top five vendors the year, Xiaomi remained the third with 152.7 million shipments and a 13% market share, next to Samsung and Apple, which claimed a 22% market share with 257.9 million shipments and a 19% share with 232.2 million shipments, respectively. Delivery in Xiaomi’s key market China decreased 14% YoY to 287 million units in 2022, the lowest for a decade. It is the first time since 2013 that the country’s market shipment has fallen below 300 million units.

The market is still likely to witness YoY decline in the first half of this year as it will take some time to see a recovery of consumption, Xiaomi president Lu Weibing expected at a company earnings call following the fourth quarterly results. Lu maintained optimistic about the outlook and believed competition across the industry will become more rational and inventory will gradually return to normal.

In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, Xiaomi disclosed development of one of its highly anticipated new business—electric vehicle (EV). “We are on track to achieve our goal of mass production in the first half of 2024,” the firm said. In 2022, expenses related to mart EV and other new initiatives amounted to RMB3.1 billion. There are around 2,300 research and development (R&D) employees in the EV business, compared with more than 1,800 people that Xiaomi said at an earnings call for the third quarter.

Xiaomi announced in March, 2021 to set up a wholly owned subsidiary to produce EVs, with the initial investment of RMB10 billion and the total input in the coming decade expected amount to US$10 billion. The company has established an R&D team of more than 500 talents, and plans to create a fleet of 140 test vehicles in the first phase of the technology development, targeting to become a leader in the smart EV industry in 2024, the founder and CEO Lei Jun said in last August.