Xiaomi's Balancing Act: An SUV Push Meets a Smartphone Slump

Xiaomi's stock falls 5% as EV delivery target looks out of reach, while smartphone shipments plunge 26% amid rising component costs.

The arithmetic facing Xiaomi is unforgiving. To hit founder Lei Jun's 2026 delivery target of 550,000 electric vehicles, the company would need to average nearly 61,000 units per month through the second half of the year — roughly double its current pace. That gap between ambition and execution is precisely why Friday's 5.00 percent share-price drop to EUR 3.23 carried more weight than the day's headline numbers might suggest.

The stock's recent trajectory tells a story of whiplash. Over the past 30 trading sessions, Xiaomi's shares have climbed 30.69 percent, a recovery that still leaves the equity 25.36 percent in the red for the year. The paper trades about half below its 52-week high of EUR 6.51, set last September, with the company's market capitalization hovering near EUR 89.56 billion.

A New SUV Lineup Enters a Crowded Field

Over the weekend, Xiaomi opened pre-orders for two new SUVs under the SkyNomad banner, built on a fresh vehicle architecture dubbed Kunlun. The seven-seat N90 Max, priced at 299,900 yuan, pairs a 76-kWh battery with a 1.5-liter turbo engine as a range extender, delivering up to 1,705 kilometers of combined range. The five-seat N70 Max starts at 259,900 yuan and offers up to 505 kilometers of pure electric range on China's CLTC cycle.

Both models share a common technical foundation: Nvidia's Thor chip with 700 TOPS of computing power, roof-mounted lidar, and a driver-assistance suite featuring Xiaomi's own language model. Only the N90 Max adds rear lidar, designed to cover blind spots during maneuvering. The vehicles lean heavily on high-strength steel and come with twelve airbags — positioning that puts Xiaomi squarely against Li Auto and Aito in China's range-extender segment. Reports suggest European and UK launches are being discussed for 2028.

The timing is delicate. Xiaomi delivered 185,055 vehicles in the first half, up 17.2 percent year over year — but that represents roughly a third of the annual target. The new SUVs won't hit the Chinese market until September, meaning any meaningful delivery contribution arrives late in the year.

The Smartphone Squeeze Intensifies

While the EV division garners attention, the smartphone business — Xiaomi's original core — is bleeding. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple captured 49 percent of global smartphone revenue in the second quarter, with the average iPhone selling price rising to USD 946 from USD 879. Apple's shipment share climbed four percentage points to 21 percent. Xiaomi, by contrast, saw deliveries plunge 26 percent, with market share sliding from 14 to 11 percent.

Omdia and IDC data paint a similar picture, attributing the decline to the ongoing memory-chip crunch. Component costs have risen sharply year over year, hitting Xiaomi hardest because of its concentration in entry-level and mid-range devices. The price increases needed to offset those costs have triggered measurable consumer resistance, according to IDC, while premium players like Apple and Samsung have expanded their share.

The cost pressure isn't letting up. Qualcomm has announced a September 2026 price hike on Snapdragon chips, which would further squeeze margins in Xiaomi's phone business. An unconfirmed report suggests Xiaomi plans to raise its smartphone shipment target for the year from 90 million to 110 million units — a 22 percent increase attributed to stabilizing memory-chip prices — with a focus on budget and mid-tier devices. The company hasn't officially confirmed the revised target.

A Hardware Offensive in Parallel

Beyond vehicles, Xiaomi continues expanding its hardware ecosystem. August 11 brings the unveiling of the Redmi K100 Pro Max, featuring a 185-Hz gaming display and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. Leaks also point to a new tablet powered by an in-house Xring-O3 processor with a 12,000-mAh battery. Separately, reports indicate Xiaomi has invested in a battery-swap technology startup, though the strategic relevance to its EV business remains unclear.

The company's second-quarter earnings arrive on August 18, offering investors their first consolidated look at how the EV and services divisions are offsetting smartphone losses. The SkyNomad launch in September will then test whether the new SUV lineup can meaningfully close the delivery gap — or whether the margin pressure from aggressive pricing, as some analysts suspect, will be the price of chasing volume.