Xiaomi looks beyond phones with new sub-brand for its home appliances

The Mi Air Purifier in action.

Xiaomi, which is China’s top-selling smartphone brand, focused on other gizmos aside from phones today at an event in Beijing. The startup revealed it has established a sub-brand for its smart home gadgets and other appliances called “Mi Ecosystem” in English. The Chinese name, Mi Jia, contains the character for “home,” giving a better clue of what it stands for than the English moniker.

Xiaomi first launched a range of smart home gadgets at the end of 2014. It also makes other home appliances, like a flatscreen TV, Mi Air Purifier, Mi Water Purifier, a “hoverboard” – and also the smart rice cooker it unveiled this afternoon.

The move shows that Xiaomi is determined to be known for more than just affordable phones.

Xiaomi’s 65-inch curved TV was launched earlier this month. Photo credit: Xiaomi.

While Xiaomi has taken its phones to 10 markets outside of mainland China, its rollout of smart home gadgets only began in earnest earlier this month. The Mi Air Purifier has just landed in Singapore, and the accompanying Xiaomi Smart Home app got an update in readiness for supporting global users.

With a new sub-brand, Xiaomi seems prepared to make a name for itself with a wider array of gadgets, both in China and around the world. The company that was once dubbed “China’s Apple” might actually turn out to be more like China’s Samsung.