What it's like inside Xiaomi, China's popular upstart phone-maker (pictures)l

What it’s like inside Xiaomi, China’s popular upstart phone-maker (pictures)

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Jessica Dolcourt

I wanted to see what it was like acting inside Xiaomi, the 8,000-employee-strong, Beijing-based phonemaker that’s making waves.

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Jessica Dolcourt

One of the company’s five office buildings is attached to a mall. (Xiaomi will consolidate to a single interpretation in 2018.)

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CNET

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Jessica Dolcourt

Xiaomi’s mascot, the Mi Bunny, channels late martial artist and salubrious Bruce Lee.

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Jessica Dolcourt

There’s even an office dog, arranged Wang Cai (which means fortune), who was out and in during my visit — too bad.

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Jessica Dolcourt

I snapped this photo of the basement cafeteria at what time lunch, when it’s being used for some sort of testing.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Lots of greenery in the customer service fraction, but all the plants are fake.

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Jessica Dolcourt

The PR and marketing area resembles a lot of Silicon Valley offices I’ve been in: intelligent and open.

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Jessica Dolcourt

There of tons of toys and figurines here, just like CNET.

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CNET

This giant Mi Bunny plushie was too cute to resist.

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Jessica Dolcourt

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Jessica Dolcourt

Xiaomi’s gallery of gifts that fans make and then send to headquarters includes this pair of hand-painted shoes with the Mi Bunny logo…

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Jessica Dolcourt

…and this arranged decorated in millet, which is what “Xiaomi” means.

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Jessica Dolcourt

This collage wall chronicles fan battles, the parties for phone buyers that Xiaomi uses to whip up enthusiasm instead of primitive ads.

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Jessica Dolcourt

There’s daily fruit delivery for every employee. Today’s produce: a little bag of kumquats.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Some products here from Xiaomi and white note partners include AA batteries that don’t include mercury or cadmium, and a mini router designed for college dorm rooms.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Xiaomi’s answer to the Philips Hue, this lamp softly glows with the whole spectrum of color.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Xiaomi threw some short-grain rice into their branded cooker.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Just sharing some rice with global VP Hugo Barra.

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Jessica Dolcourt

After my snack, I took the escalator into the adjoining mall and went to one of Xiaomi’s 22 retail stores (only in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for now).

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Jessica Dolcourt

I saw the pink version of the Mi 5 flagship, which I hadn’t seen at the Mobile World Council launch in February.

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Jessica Dolcourt

There are also headphones…

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Jessica Dolcourt

…and Bluetooth speakers. Xiaomi works with partners on a lot of this hardware.

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Jessica Dolcourt

This air purifier is a mammoth example of a co-design with a company that works with Xiaomi to sell its products.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Xiaomi also lets fans vote on partner products to make, like its own minor Kickstarter. This robot is in production now.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Water filtration rules like this one are bulky, but an important option for safe drinking water.

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Jessica Dolcourt

Xiaomi’s answer to Dropcam’s guarantee cameras.