There are conversations that are worth more than statements. Nelly de Navia He has been directing Xiaomi’s marketing in Spain for years, which is not just any market for the company: it is its European laboratory, the place where it tests how far it can stretch its identity before exporting the experiment to the rest of the continent.
Europe is, in turn, a very special continent: it is its large international market and its premium sales opportunity since the United States continues to be impossible for the orange brand.
Nelly and I sat down to talk during the MWC in Barcelona, in the noble area of the stand of Xiaomi, and what he said draws more clearly than any official presentation the exact moment in which the brand is.
With a 17Ultra of 1,500 euros and a Leica Leitzphone to 2,000, I asked him how much weight the intention of raising image versus selling volume had in the strategy with those products. “Now we’re maybe 60/40,” Nelly said.
- 60% dedicated to building aspiration.
- 40% dedicated to moving units.
For a brand that was born with volume as the only argument, that proportion is a statement of intent as striking as the hypercar parked in the stand that will never reach production.
The twist has also changed the language. “I’m not talking to you about specifications anymore,” De Navia said. “I make it more aspirational, more experiential.” A leap that has been notable for some time. For years, Xiaomi sold in the language of engineers: megapixels, milliamps, gigahertz… and price, of course. It was the language of bargainwhich allowed the buyer to justify himself rationally. “My Xiaomi does the same thing in half” was a meme-phrase that defined a stage.
Now Xiaomi organizes photowalks night trips with FotoEspaña and set up immersive experiences in your showroom. It is a language more similar to that of Apple and four-figure Samsungslearned with the conscience of someone who arrives late but with Chinese determination.
And there is a subtle sign that the change is serious: this year there have been no free televisions or aggressive promotions alongside the launches, such as knockdown discounts or included headphones. “The mobile phone costs what it costs because I am offering you the best technology,” he explained. “I’m not going to mess it up with a promotion.” The word chosen is not neutral: dirty.
The low price, which for years was the heart of Xiaomi’s argument, has become a threat for the brand they want to build.
The thing about Spain deserves its own paragraph because De Navia tells it with a frankness that is unusual in the sector. “We use Spain at Xiaomi as a gateway, as a market to try new things.” The white range (washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners…) was tested here before expanding because there were doubts about whether it would work in a country like Germany, more conservative with its brands, with strong national manufacturers and with purchasing power that takes the quality-price factor out of the equation.
Spanish consumers, loyal since the days of the Redmi at 150 euros, are the testing ground where Xiaomi measures how far it can stretch its identity without breaking it. It is a compliment with nuances: the market that was a natural starting point for a price brand is now the first guinea pig of a brand that wants to be something else.
The underlying identity conflict, however, does not disappear no matter how much the language changes. Redmi and Poco are still, in De Navia’s words, where the real volume is. The total ecosystem that Xiaomi is building (from mobile to home to car) requires both worlds to coexist without one contaminating the other, and managing that coexistence is probably the most complex challenge that the brand faces.
“Many users have continued this path hand in hand,” he said about those who have been with Xiaomi for years since its cheap beginnings and continue walking alongside them. But attracting the buyer who never considered it precisely because it was cheap is a different, slower and more expensive task. And they are there.
There is one answer that explains it better than any other. I asked him What KPIs will she look at in three months to determine if the 17 Ultra has been a success?. He did not say market share in premium or units sold of the Ultra, which are the most obvious answers. He said: “I think it’s going to be the effect it has on the T.” The T series, which Xiaomi will launch a few months later at more affordable prices, is where there is a greater volume. The Ultra exists, in part, so that when the T arrives people will have already recalibrated what they expect from Xiaomi.
It’s exactly the same logic as Vision GT (behind Nelly in the photo that crowns this article) applied to mobile phones: the unattainable product as a lever to sell the product that you will buy. Luxury as a commercial argument for what is not luxury.
Back to big brother, eol Xiaomi 17 Ultra It is a beast that at no time appeals to quality-price or to give you “the same or almost the same” as an iPhone or a Galaxy at half the price. Its price is the same or even higher because effectively Xiaomi is convinced that it is delivering something superior. After testing the Xiaomi 17 Ultra these days, it is impossible not to think that it has things that its range rivals do not have. Their cameras are on another level.
Luxury works by accumulation of credibility. And that accumulation has no shortcuts, no matter how much the stand of the MWC try it.
Featured image | Xataka
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