Xiaomi's Product Blitz Meets a Market That Refuses to Be Impressed

Xiaomi unveils foldable phone and EV brand, but shares fall 30% YTD amid margin and competition worries.

The disconnect between corporate execution and share-price performance rarely gets starker than this. Xiaomi spent the past week unveiling a flagship foldable smartphone, expanding into a new vehicle category, and laying groundwork for European sales — yet its stock keeps sliding, closing Monday at €3.04, down 2.2% on the day.

That puts the shares 30% below where they started 2026, and roughly 49% lower over a twelve-month stretch. The 200-day moving average of €3.52 sits well overhead, a technical signal that the medium-term trend remains firmly negative.

A Foldable Timed to Upstage Apple

The centerpiece of the product offensive came Monday, when Xiaomi unveiled the 18 Fold — two days before Apple's anticipated foldable keynote. The timing looks deliberate, and the specifications are designed to compete with the best in the category: an in-house Xring O3 processor, a 200-megapixel Leica camera system, and a 6,000 mAh battery.

Pricing starts at roughly $1,540, undercutting Huawei's Mate XT2, which can run up to $2,980. That price gap matters in China, where Huawei controls 68% of the foldable segment. Xiaomi's overall share of the Chinese smartphone market stood at just 12.4% in the second quarter, trailing Apple's 18.1% — figures that underscore how much ground the company is trying to reclaim.

The launch date was set for September 10, and the real test won't come from the announcement itself but from sell-through numbers in the weeks that follow.

For the foldable's memory components, Xiaomi has turned to domestic supplier CXMT, a partnership first reported in late August and now confirmed with the product's market debut. The move fits a broader pattern among Chinese tech giants of reducing reliance on Western semiconductor makers.

EVs: A New Brand, a Delivery Streak, and a European Roadmap

While the smartphone grabbed headlines, Xiaomi's automotive ambitions advanced on multiple fronts. The company introduced SkyNomad, a new marque focused on extended-range vehicles, with SUVs starting around $30,960. One model reportedly racked up 10,000 orders in just four minutes — a sign that demand for the new powertrain concept is hardly tepid.

The core EV business, meanwhile, continues to hum. Xiaomi Auto exceeded 30,000 deliveries in August for the fifth consecutive month, according to media reports, though the company didn't disclose an exact figure. That consistency suggests manufacturing capacity has finally caught up with order intake — no small matter given the division's ambitious delivery targets.

Since March 2024, Xiaomi has handed over more than 650,000 vehicles in China alone, evidence that the car business has moved well beyond the experimental stage.

European investors got their own piece of news at the IFA trade show in Berlin, where Xiaomi presented German dealer partners including Emil Frey, Ernst Dello, and other established dealership groups. The company plans to enter the European market in 2027 through its own sales subsidiaries rather than relying on importers.

Why the Market Remains Unmoved

The puzzle is why none of this seems to register in the share price. Part of the answer lies outside Xiaomi's control: oil prices hovering near $100 and renewed rate concerns have weighed on Asian tech stocks broadly, with markets in Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong all posting steep losses on Tuesday.

But there's also a company-specific discount at work. Investors appear to be pricing in risks that product announcements don't address — margin pressure in the automotive business, intensifying competition in smartphones, and the question of whether operational momentum will actually translate into the next set of quarterly figures.

The stock sits 54% below its 52-week high from September 25, 2025, a decline that speaks to a structural loss of confidence rather than a short-term wobble. Xiaomi's strategic breadth is real — a foldable that can go toe-to-toe with Huawei, a second vehicle powertrain, a secured chip supply chain, and a credible path into Europe. Whether the market eventually rewards that breadth depends less on the next product reveal than on the company converting its operational cadence into hard numbers the market can trust.