The question of who created Xiaomi’s phone is often of interest not only to the brand’s fans, but also to those who follow the development of technology in general. The company’s history is a classic example of how an ambitious idea, coupled with rigid discipline and market understanding, can produce a global giant. Founder and permanent leader is Lei Jun, a charismatic entrepreneur often called China’s Steve Jobs. It was his vision that laid the foundation for creating devices that can be found almost anywhere in the world today.
The company was officially founded on April 6, 2010, but the journey to the first smartphone took just over a year. Lei Jun did not start from scratch, at the time of the creation of Xiaomi, he was already a successful investor and founder of software company Kingsoft. IT-This allowed the industry to form a team that looked at phones not just as an iron assembly, but as an ecosystem, and Xiaomi was initially positioned not as a gadget maker, but as an Internet company, which predetermined its unique business model.
The first phone, called Xiaomi Mi 1, was introduced in August 2011, and it was a revolutionary device for the Chinese market, offering flagship specs at a price that was half that of competitors. The success of the model was stunning: the first batches were sold out in seconds. Today, the founder’s name is inextricably linked to the philosophy of affordable high-quality technology, and the brand itself has become synonymous with reasonable economy without loss of functionality.
The company's founding story is inextricably linked to the identity of its main ideologue: Lei Jun was born in 1969 and had an interest in computer technology from a young age. After graduating from Wuhan University, he started working for a small encryption company, but quickly realized that the future was in mass software and personal computers. His career at Kingsoft was fast-paced, and by the time Xiaomi was founded, he had huge capital and industry connections.
But building Xiaomi's phone required not only money, but the right team. Lei Jun assembled a group of seven people he calls the Eight Founders, who were experienced engineers and managers from companies like Microsoft, Google, Motorola, and Kingsoft, each in charge of their own key business: some software development, some design, and some (supply chains), and it was this collective intelligence that avoided many of the mistakes startups make early on.
⚠️ Attention: It is often misunderstood that Xiaomi is just an assembly shop, and in fact, from day one, the company relied on its own software and user interface, which became its main competitive advantage.
The founder's philosophy was to sell smartphones at cost, making money from additional services and accessories. This model, dubbed "iron + Internet + retail", allowed the company to quickly take over the market. Lei Jun understood that users would put up with a lack of physical stores and marketing hype if they received a truly powerful product at a fair price.
📊 What is most important to you in the smartphone?
Low price
High-quality camera
Long working hours
Clean Android without Advertising
Design and materials
When you think about who created Xiaomi's phone, you can't ignore the fact that success was due to the right timing: In 2010-2011, the smartphone market was just gaining momentum, and the then dominant Nokia was already losing ground, and Apple was too expensive for the mass consumer in developing countries, and Lei Jun saw this niche and filled it.
The key element of the strategy was MIUI (based on Android), which was developed before the first phone came out, and the founders understood that hardware was easy to copy, but software and user experience created loyalty. The first version of MIUI was released on August 16, 2010, and was distributed for free, and enthusiasts from around the world helped find bugs and offer improvements, which created a powerful community around the brand.
Today, Lei Jun’s company is a conglomerate that doesn’t just make smartphones, including TVs, laptops, scooters, air purifiers and even smart rice cookers, but the smartphone remains the flagship product that sets the tone for the entire ecosystem, and the founders have managed to maintain a balance between mass production and technological innovation, as evidenced by their regular entry into the Fortune 500.
The secret of Xiaomi's name
In fact, in Chinese, "Mi" can mean both rice and "billion" and also sounds like "Mobile Internet." The company's slogan "Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen" reflects the optimism of the founders. The evolution of the product line shows how the vision of the founders changed. If the first phone Xiaomi was just a powerful device with good stuffing, then the modern flagships of the Mi series (now Xiaomi) and Xiaomi 13/14 compete with the best examples of the industry in the field of photography and materials. The company went from imitator to a leader in the blog, which he always paid attention to the digitally, but the forum. This "founder as the face of the brand" approach created trust that money can't buy. People felt they were buying the phone from a person, not from a faceless corporation. Year Event Value for Brand 2010 Founding a company Start development MIUI 2011 Xiaomi Mi 1 The first smartphone that proved the viability of the 2014 model №1 in China Overtaking Apple and Samsung in home market sales 2018 IPO Hong Kong Stock Exchange 2021 Premiumization Strategy Focus on the (premium) segment and own processors Speaking of who created the phone, we are talking about a whole management philosophy. Lei Jun implemented the principle of "focus, extreme, verbal marketing, speed" in the company. This means making few products but making them perfect, communicating with users directly and responding quickly to market changes. This flexibility has allowed us to survive several crises, including chip shortages and supplier problems. Xiaomi today is the result of thousands of engineers, but the vector of development is still set by the founder. In recent years, the company has been focusing on R&D by opening its own CPU and screen factories, an attempt to move away from reliance on outside suppliers like Qualcomm and Samsung, a logical extension of a path that began more than a decade ago. ☑️ Signs of the original Xiaomi smartphone IMEI on the official website Presence of holograms on the box Quality of assembly and absence of hatchlightsCompletion (original cable and power supply)Factory film with logo MICompleted: 0 / 5 Lei Jun himself often said, “Don’t try to catch a pig when the wind blows; become a pig and the wind will lift you up». This metaphor describes his belief in trends: Xiaomi’s creators have always tried to be in the right place at the right time, whether it’s the boom (mobile internet) or the rise of the IoT (Internet of Things). ⚠️ Note: When buying Xiaomi devices in the secondary market or in unverified stores, pay attention to the firmware version (CN) Google’s services and support for frequencies important for Europe and the CIS, and today it is difficult to imagine the smartphone market without the company’s products. From the Redmi series’ budget models to Xiaomi’s flagship 14 Ultra, all of these devices are built on the principles that the founders set out in 2010. Availability for everyone is not just a slogan, it’s a reality they created. The emergence of Redmi (now an independent brand) has separated the mass from the premium segment, and the launch of POCO has allowed for experimentation with niche products for enthusiasts. This diversification has helped to maintain leadership even in the face of fierce competition. Many wonder why Lei Jun was able to create a global brand, and other Chinese manufacturers did not? The answer lies in the combination of engineering background and business intuition. He did not just copy the iPhone, he adapted them to local realities and added his zest in the form of caste and financial support, but also says that the company will be unique from the sale. It's an unprecedented move in the electronics industry that is making competitors puzzle over how Xiaomi manages to stay afloat.The secret lies in the ecosystem: by buying a phone, a user is more likely to buy a bracelet, headphones or air purifier where margins are already higher. The brand’s development is taking leaps and bounds. The plans to enter the electric car market (the Xiaomi Auto project) show that the founders’ ambitions have no limits. They see the smartphone not as the final product, but as the remote control for the entire life of a person, whether it is a home, a car or an office. 💡The main secret of Xiaomi’s success is not a low price per se, but high efficiency of business processes, which allows you to sell quality devices with a minimum margin, earning on the ecosystem and services. In conclusion, the story of Xiaomi’s phone is an inspirational example for entrepreneurs around the world. Lei Jun and his team have proven that even in a crowded market, you can find your place if you offer real value to the user. Their journey from a small office in Beijing to becoming one of the world’s largest technology companies has taken just over a decade. Today, Xiaomi continues to amaze with new technologies, whether it’s cameras under screen or wireless charging at a distance. And even though the founders are no longer part of every detail of production, their DNA is firmly stitched in every device that comes off the assembly line. The question of “Who created the phone?” In the early stages (2011-2013), some design elements and interface MIUI did indeed resemble iOS. However, it was a common practice for many Chinese manufacturers of the time. With the release of the flagship Mi Mix series and the transition to premium strategy, Xiaomi developed its own recognizable design language, especially in the Xiaomi 13/14 series, which is often ahead of trends. Who is the current CEO of Xiaomi? CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors is still the founder of the company Lei Jun. He is actively involved in management and strategic planning, personally presenting key products at presentations, why is this phone-related, the same name of the premium industry? Also, founder Lei Jun often uses presentation techniques similar to Steve Jobs. However, technically and software are completely different platforms (Android vs. iOS). In what year Xiaomi became the world’s best-selling brand? In the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi first surpassed Samsung to become the world’s leading smartphone market by sales volume. This was a historic moment that marked a change of leaders in the industry, although Samsung later regained its position.