2025: Chinese Smartphone Makers Launch a "Second" Wave of Overseas Expansion, MWC Witnesses the Transformation

2025: Chinese Smartphone Makers Launch a "Second" Wave of Overseas Expansion, MWC Witnesses the TransformationEvery March, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona serves as a crucial milestone for Chinese brands entering the global market. Last year, the global explosion of generative AI made it the undisputed star of MWC, capturing worldwide attention

2025: Chinese Smartphone Makers Launch a "Second" Wave of Overseas Expansion, MWC Witnesses the Transformation

Every March, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona serves as a crucial milestone for Chinese brands entering the global market. Last year, the global explosion of generative AI made it the undisputed star of MWC, capturing worldwide attention. This year, AI-related products remain a key focus at MWC, but concurrently, the overseas strategies of Chinese phone manufacturers have undergone a dramatic shift. Several manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Nubia, and realme, launched numerous new products targeting overseas markets during MWC; Xiaomi announced its automotive overseas expansion timeline; while brands like Huawei and Meizu, after years of absence, are setting sail again. 2025 marks the official beginning of the "second" wave of overseas expansion for Chinese smartphone manufacturers.

Xiaomi: Aiming for 200 Million Unit Sales, Automotive Business to Go Overseas in 2027

In the first three quarters of 2024, Xiaomi's overseas market revenue reached 116.1 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of approximately 30%, accounting for 45.2% of Xiaomi's total revenue during the same period. The overseas market has become one of Xiaomi's most important growth engines. At this year's MWC, Xiaomi showcased dozens of new products spanning smartphones, automobiles, and smart home appliances. Lu Weibing, Xiaomi Group Partner and President, announced several new overseas plans and targets, the most striking being a sales target of 200 million smartphones. "We are still about 30 million units short of 200 million. The goal is to reach this milestone within 2-3 years, by 2026 at the latest, or 2027," Lu stated. He predicts the global smartphone market will form two distinct camps: a 200-million-unit sales camp (Xiaomi, Apple, Samsung), and a 100-million-unit sales camp (potentially including two or three manufacturers), with the remaining manufacturers selling less than 50 million units, creating a clear sales hierarchy.

Beyond pursuing high sales volume, Xiaomi is actively entering the high-end market. Despite having been overseas for years, Xiaomi only entered the over $1000 ultra-high-end market in 2023. In June of that year, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra launched in Europe, becoming Xiaomi's first Ultra model for overseas markets. Lu Weibing pointed out that Xiaomi's most important overseas goal is to consolidate its position in the $600-1000 price range, while the over $1000 ultra-high-end market will primarily rely on the newly released Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Notably, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra's starting price in Europe is 1499 (approximately RMB 11453), nearly RMB 5000 higher than in the domestic market, even exceeding the price of the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max in Europe. Regarding this significant price difference, Lu explained: "This includes differences in tariffs and channel costs, but overall, its higher pricing in Europe than the iPhone 16 Pro Max reflects Xiaomi's technological confidence and strength."

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's market performance seems to confirm the initial success of Xiaomi's strategy. On March 3rd, Lu Weibing announced on Weibo that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra's first-day sales in the Chinese market increased by over 50% year-on-year, and overseas pre-orders increased by over 100%. Lu emphasized at the MWC conference: "Driving our growth in the high-end market is more important than ever."

Furthermore, the Xiaomi SUV Ultra, showcased at MWC, attracted significant attention, with approximately 20,000 pre-orders. Xiaomi's overseas automotive plans also became a focal point. Lu Weibing provided a rough timeline: "After MWC, I will visit several European countries to assess the market and our global data. My goal is to officially launch overseas in 2027." He believes that Xiaomi's primary focus for the next few years will remain on the domestic market, building a solid foundation.

To support the 200-million smartphone sales target and pave the way for future automotive overseas expansion, Xiaomi plans to establish 10,000 Xiaomi Home stores overseas between 2025 and 2029. "10,000 Xiaomi Home stores would be like building a highway to the world," Lu stated. Building local stores overseas will create a global distribution system for Xiaomi, allowing for the future sales of other Xiaomi products, mirroring the domestic Xiaomi Home model. Additionally, Lu stated that Xiaomi's large home appliance products will begin expanding overseas from 2025. From high-end smartphones and large home appliances to laying the groundwork for overseas automotive sales through local distribution, 2025 will undoubtedly be a crucial node in Xiaomi's "second" wave of overseas expansion.

Huawei: Leading with Tri-Foldable Phones, Accelerating its Return to Overseas Markets

Over the past few years, Huawei has faced significant challenges in the overseas smartphone market due to external restrictions. Canalys data shows that in 2019, Huawei (including Honor) shipped approximately 100 million smartphones overseas, accounting for about 40% of Huawei's global shipments. However, starting in 2020, due to chip restrictions, Huawei gradually withdrew from overseas markets. According to Wall Street News, by 2023, Huawei's overseas smartphone sales had dropped to approximately 9.8 million units, less than one-tenth of its peak.

In 2023, the Huawei Mate60 series, powered by Kirin chips, made a strong comeback to the Chinese smartphone market; in 2024, Huawei became the second-largest smartphone player in China with a 16% market share. Having regained its footing, Huawei is accelerating its return to overseas markets. According to media reports, Huawei is planning to expand the sales markets for its high-performance chip phones to approximately 60 countries and is placing large-scale advertisements in major international cities such as Paris, Singapore, Dubai, Milan, Munich, Istanbul, Warsaw, and Mexico City, making a high-profile announcement of its return to these local markets.

At this year's MWC, Huawei showcased several new products for overseas markets, including the Mate 70 series, Mate X series, MatePad Pro, and the Huawei WATCH GT 5 series and WATCH D2, further accelerating its return to the global market. Despite its absence from overseas markets for several years, Huawei still enjoys high brand recognition globally thanks to its past market position. According to media reports, King Felipe VI of Spain visited the Huawei booth and experienced the Huawei Mate X tri-foldable phone.

However, Huawei's return to overseas markets still faces numerous challenges. Due to US sanctions, Huawei cannot pre-install the Google "family bucket" (YouTube, Google Play, etc.), creating an inherent barrier for overseas users. Furthermore, the production capacity of the Huawei Mate 70 series is a significant issue. Despite the series having been on the market in China for over three months, many models, such as the Mate 70 Pro+, are still available only by pre-order on Huawei's official website.

Meizu: Smartphones, Smart Glasses, and Automobiles All Going Overseas

Meizu is also re-entering the overseas market after many years, but the reason is not external restrictions, but rather internal changes. In 2022, Meizu was acquired by Geely Holding Group's Starry Sky Time, and merged with the latter in 2023 to form Starry Sky Meizu Group. It was not until 2024 that Starry Sky Meizu restarted its overseas expansion.

At this year's MWC, Meizu launched three new phonesthe Note 22, mblu 22, and mblu 22 Proand the Star V smart glasses series. It also showcased its three core product lines based on Flyme AI OS: smart glasses, smartphones, and smart cars, as well as its cross-device collaboration capabilities. "mblu" is Meizu's sub-brand "Meilan," targeting the lower-mid-range market under RMB 2000, and the configurations of the three new phones align with this positioning. However, Meilan phones were discontinued for many years, and regaining brand awareness in overseas markets will take time.

At MWC, Starry Sky Meizu stated that globalization and its "All in AI" strategy are core to its business, and it will accelerate its overseas expansion and increase investment in overseas markets starting in 2025.

Honor: Alpha Strategy, Transforming into an AI Terminal Ecosystem Company

Honor announced its HONOR ALPHA PLAN at MWC, declaring its transformation from a smartphone manufacturer to a leading global AI terminal ecosystem company. A key initiative is Honor's commitment to investing over $10 billion in the next five years to build an open, co-created, and shared AI terminal ecosystem with global partners.

Conclusion: The Essence of the Second Overseas Expansion is the Export of the Chinese Model

At MWC, Lu Weibing summarized the journey of Chinese companies