Xiaomi's Gaming Gambit Meets a Market in Retreat

Xiaomi unveils Redmi K90 Max gaming phone & new laptops as shares slump over 50% from highs, despite strong EV sales and EU expansion plans.

Xiaomi is set to unveil a bold new gaming smartphone tomorrow, April 21, but its stock price tells a story of deep investor skepticism. The launch event in China will feature the Redmi K90 Max, the brand's first dedicated gaming phone, alongside new tablets and laptops. This product offensive arrives as Xiaomi's shares trade near a 52-week low, highlighting a stark disconnect between the company's operational momentum and its market valuation.

The Redmi K90 Max represents a significant technical leap. It is equipped with a 6.83-inch E-Sports display boasting a 165Hz refresh rate and a 3,500Hz touch sampling rate. Power comes from MediaTek's top-tier Dimensity 9500 platform. A standout feature is its integrated fan-cooling system, which Xiaomi claims can lower device temperature by up to 10 degrees Celsius in about 100 seconds and generates an airflow of 0.42 CFM. The device is also fitted with a massive 8,550 mAh battery supporting 100-watt fast charging.

The event extends beyond smartphones. Xiaomi will also debut its Redmi Book Pro 2026 laptop series in 14-inch and 16-inch models. These notebooks will be powered by Intel's new Core Ultra X7 358H processor, built on the Intel 18A process with 16 cores and up to 180 TOPS of AI computing power. They are positioned as a more affordable alternative to the Xiaomi Book Pro line, which starts at 7,999 CNY in China. New tablets will also be shown.

This push into higher-margin niches like gaming hardware contrasts sharply with the stock's performance. Shares are currently trading around €3.53, down more than 50% from a March 2025 high above €7.50. Since the start of the year, the equity has lost over a fifth of its value, with all key moving averages trending downward.

Beneath the weak share price, however, several business segments show robust health. The automotive division delivered over 410,000 vehicles in 2025, including more than 50,000 units in December alone. The target for 2026 is 550,000 vehicle deliveries. In early April, the company reported that firm orders for the updated SU7 electric sedan had surpassed 40,000 units, following an initial burst of 15,000 orders within 34 minutes of its March launch.

Geopolitical developments may offer a medium-term catalyst. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Xiaomi founder Lei Jun in Beijing this month, emphasizing Spain's interest in technological cooperation with Chinese firms. With the official European launch of the SU7 electric car slated for 2027, the meeting suggests Xiaomi could view Spain as a strategic bridgehead into the region.

Founder Lei Jun has also outlined an ambitious roadmap for 2026, focusing on developing in-house chipsets, a proprietary operating system, and AI language models. Whether tomorrow's product launch can provide any sustained momentum for the stock remains doubtful. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) sits near 77, indicating a technically overbought condition despite the year's severe downtrend—a sign of recent sharp short-term volatility.

Ultimately, the upcoming quarterly results will be far more consequential than any single product reveal. Investors are waiting to see if the high-volume electric vehicle rollout and the shift toward premium hardware can genuinely improve corporate margins and finally align the company's market value with its operational reality.