Xiaomi’s 8,000mAh Smartphone and Tesla-Veteran Hires Mask a Stock Under Siege

Xiaomi unveils record 8,000mAh battery phone and ramps EV deliveries with Tesla veterans, but shares fall 22% YTD, trading below key moving averages.

Xiaomi is throwing everything at two massive growth engines — a flagship smartphone with the biggest battery in its history and an electric-vehicle division now staffed with Tesla veterans — yet its shares remain firmly stuck in negative territory. The stock edged up 1.51% to €3.47 on Wednesday after the company teased the Xiaomi 17 Max, but that did little to alter a picture of sustained pressure: year-to-date losses of 22.73% and a 12-month decline of 38.86% extend from the primary article. From the secondary article, the share price closed at €3.42 the prior session, and it now trades below both the 50-day moving average of €3.54 and the 200-day average of €4.54 — a 23.37% gap from the longer-term mean.

The new handset, scheduled to launch in China this month, is designed to be a battery powerhouse. The Xiaomi 17 Max will pack an 8,000 mAh cell — a record for the brand — and supports 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. Its camera system targets the premium tier with a 200-megapixel main sensor, joined by an ultra-wide lens and a periscope telephoto offering 3x optical zoom. Under the hood sits Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, paired with a flat 6.9-inch display. Xiaomi will offer the device in black, blue, and white. Lu Weibing, head of the Xiaomi brand, described it as a “fully upgraded” take on the standard model, aiming squarely at consumers who refuse to compromise between long endurance and top-tier specs.

While the smartphone launch generates short-term buzz, the real weight of Xiaomi’s growth story now rests on its electric-vehicle arm. The company delivered 36,702 cars in April, with the SU7 sedan accounting for more than 70% of that volume — a clear sequential improvement from March, as noted in the primary source. The secondary source adds that total 2025 EV deliveries reached 411,000 units, up 200.4% year-over-year, and generated 103.3 billion RMB in revenue. For 2026, Xiaomi has set a target of 550,000 vehicles, implying an average monthly run rate of roughly 52,000. That ramp-up is already straining capacity: the Beijing plant can produce 450,000 cars annually, and a second facility in Wuhan is not expected to come online until May 2026, adding another 150,000 units.

To close the execution gap, Xiaomi has turned to proven talent. According to industry sources cited in the secondary article, the company hired Kong Yanshuang, formerly Tesla’s general manager for China, to lead sales, and Song Gang, who worked at Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory, to boost manufacturing discipline. The message is clear: the company is buying hard-won experience to avoid the production hiccups that have plagued other Chinese EV startups. The urgency is underscored by the staggering demand for the YU7 SUV. Within 18 hours of opening reservations, Xiaomi booked 240,000 lock-in orders worth over 60 billion RMB. The entry price is set at 253,500 RMB, but wait times for the standard variant already stretch to 53–56 weeks — a sign that demand is far outpacing supply.

A technical spat has also added noise. A senior Audi manager publicly questioned whether Xiaomi uses consumer-grade chips instead of automotive-grade semiconductors in its EVs. Founder Lei Jun countered that the chips passed AEC-Q104 tests, a standard for automotive reliability. The debate touches a nerve: traditional automakers design chips for 15–20-year lifespans and extreme temperature ranges, while new entrants prioritise computing power and software integration.

On the financial side, Xiaomi is using buybacks to signal confidence. The primary article reports that the company repurchased 7.4 billion Hong Kong dollars of its own shares through April 24 this year, up from 6.3 billion HKD in all of 2024. Management is also working to control cost ratios and deploy AI agents to improve efficiency. But these measures alone cannot replace better margins or a convincing earnings beat.

The next crucial checkpoint arrives on May 26, when the board meets to review and approve unaudited first-quarter results. That day will test whether operational momentum — from smartphone innovation to EV scaling and factory discipline — can finally reverse the market’s skittishness. Until then, the stock remains caught between impressive product trailers and the slow grind of industrial reality.