 Hey guys, I'm Vlad Vodvod here at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona. I am supposed to be talking to Hugo Barra from Xiaomi, but I'm not quite sure where he is yet. Hey Vlad. Hi. Sorry, I'm running a little bit behind. Everyone wants a piece of Mi5, so it's been a busy day. This is the 9bot Mini. It's actually one of our products. Right now only available in China, but I figured I would bring one along with me. It helps me get around. You don't call it a hover bar, do you? This is not a hover bar to be clear. This is a 9bot. Good. But that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about the Mi5, but also it's a momentous occasion for you guys because you're at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and you're primarily a Chinese company. So first I wanted to let you guys introduce yourselves. Like who is Xiaomi? Tell the world about yourselves. Sure. First of all, thanks for coming here and for having us. So Xiaomi is an interesting company that's a combination of hardware, software services, as well as e-commerce. So we started off as a company making a mobile operating system called MIUI, which is built on top of Android and it's been around for almost six years now. It was the very first thing we did. A year after launching MIUI, we launched our first phone and the thought there was simple. How can we get MIUI into the hands of as many people as possible? So we have always been thinking about hardware as a distribution vehicle for the software. Software which includes platform services, which of course we monetize. So think of us more as an internet company, a mobile internet company that monetizes on digital content, advertising and so on and so forth. And then e-commerce is our sales channel. In fact, it's our only commerce. We are the third largest e-commerce company in China and we only sell our own products through that channel. That allows us to sell direct to consumer. We have a direct relationship with the consumer. We don't have intermediaries, so we don't have to pay commissions and so on and so forth. So all of it supports this one business model, which is to be a mobile internet company. Let me ask you, you mentioned that your hardware store is built into the phone and that's a big deal for you. But also browsing around the interface there, I noticed that you also have Google's Play Store in there. That's right. Which doesn't figure in China. And China is your biggest market. So in a roundabout way, what I'm trying to get at is you have the Play Store in there because this isn't just a phone for China. We know you have India as the second market and you said there will be other markets and then the crowd kind of laughed because you were hinting at something more and I think your presence here at MWC is hinting at something more and something more global. So can you tell us more on that front? Sure. So to be clear on Google Play and Google services, we are a very close partner of Google's and we distribute GMS as we call it in every market outside of China, which is wherever they're available. We don't include Google's apps in our China build. So what we're playing with here today is our international build, which is what goes to India and all these other markets. Of course, our main focus for Mi 5 are our existing markets, including India and other markets, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. There's quite a few of them because those are the markets that were already present. We already have fans. They are clamoring for this product. And of course, we have other markets on our radar screen, but it's far too early to make any statements. So Mi 5 is not launching outside of our core markets. But we're starting to keep our eyes open. We're starting to build our brand. We came to MWC as a global platform because we're building up to an eventual launch. And we have no idea when it will happen. We're still working towards that. Really, very, very, very sharply focused on a few markets right now, especially India. But one day. One day. Yeah. One day Europe, one day the United States? Hopefully we'll get to both of those. It's just too early to tell when. And I actually don't know. I am not withholding information, but it's too early in the process to even be able to predict when it might happen. I understand. Well, just from my perspective, I feel like you've had a successful debut here at MWC. You've wowed a lot of people. You've impressed me. And I felt off on talking about the phone because we already did a big hands-on video and people can go and see it on theverge.com, on the internet. So Mi 5. Xiaomi has had this reputation, which you're not happy with, I'm sure, for copying Apple products. But I look at this phone and there is none of that. You've done your own unique industrial design. You did a whole excellent presentation. We love the fact that it got pretty geeky and down into the details. If anything, it reminds me more of Samsung's designs with the Galaxy series. So tell us a little bit about how you came up with the design. You also said it took you two years to put this phone together. The story started... Thank you for saying that, by the way, Vlad. It's actually very touching to hear that from an industry expert like yourself. It started with Mi Note, which was a 5.7-inch flagship that we launched almost exactly a year ago. Mi Note was the first smartphone to introduce a 3D curved glass back design, which some phones this year have. To be very clear, that was a design that we introduced last year with Mi Note. The other thing that we had with Mi Note was this notion of even though you have a very thin body, slim body, you can still have a flat camera that's flush on top of the rear part of the device and it's also tucked in on the corner. So the main design lines for Mi 5 are the ones we introduced with Mi Note. Of course, we made them better, but we also had to work extra hard to fit it all into a much smaller form factor. So this, you can safely now say, is our signature design. It is a curved 3D body. In fact, there's a ceramic version which you're holding right there. The way that we integrate the camera, it's not sticking out, it's not in the center of the device, it's very, very elegant. I think people are really going to start to look at phones out there and say, huh, that looks like a Xiaomi phone. Really? I do believe that this is going to happen because we are pioneers with this particular kind of design. We're already seeing it this year. I mean, I am not aware of Xiaomi's recognition in China. I don't spend that much time in China, so I'll take your word for that. On the ceramic, playing around with it, it feels a bit more substantial than the glass version, but still the dimensions of it are unchanged. This is going to be a pro model, so that comes with 128 gigabytes of storage, 4 gigabytes of RAM, but otherwise it's unchanged. Is there anything about the ceramic material that makes it different other than the fact that it just looks different? If you look at the hardness, Mohs scale, the zirconic ceramic that we're using is an 8. Diamond is, of course, a 10. It's the hardest on that scale, but steel is only a 4. Regular glass is somewhere in between, but ceramic is much, much more resistant to abrasion than any of the other materials. It's more expensive to make, and you can imagine how expensive having even a 3D surface like this would be, especially more so with ceramic. It's 75% more expensive, but it also takes a lot more work to make it. The process takes hours, and of course this is the first time we're doing it, so we're hoping that we're going to perfect it and perhaps make it cheaper for future models. But you're right, it just feels pretty unique. And that's the thing, you just described a very involved process, but even this, the Pro model, is something like $350, which is crazy to us. And I think from a Western perspective, I think I've been speaking for a lot of our readers when I say that we want that price, and we want that quality, and those materials, and everything else, just somewhere where we can actually buy it. So that builds up to the final question I want to ask of you, which is what should we expect from Xiaomi in the future? So I think first of all, you're going to continue to see us taking a leadership position in areas where perhaps people weren't expecting us, like mobile phone design, industrial design. This is just one product this year, it's our first flagship of the year, we have more products coming, and I think they're going to continue to raise the bar when it comes to design. In many ways, it takes a couple of years for a company that's not even six years old to get to the point where it has a rhythm, it has a pace. I've pushed a lot of people around internally over the last couple of years to really find that design language, because we want to be seen as an industry leader in every way, including design. I think we're finally getting there. That's a good teaser, thank you very much again, Hugo. Thanks Vlad. Thanks for having me. You want to go for a ride? You're good. I'll just lean forward slightly.
 Hey guys, I'm Vlad Vodvod here at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona.
 I am supposed to be talking to Hugo Barra from Xiaomi, but I'm not quite sure where
 he is yet.
 Hey Vlad.
 Hi.
 Sorry, I'm running a little bit behind.
 Everyone wants a piece of Mi5, so it's been a busy day.
 This is the 9bot Mini.
 It's actually one of our products.
 Right now only available in China, but I figured I would bring one along with me.
 It helps me get around.
 You don't call it a hover bar, do you?
 This is not a hover bar to be clear.
 This is a 9bot.
 Good.
 But that's not what we're here to talk about.
 We're here to talk about the Mi5, but also it's a momentous occasion for you guys because
 you're at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and you're primarily a Chinese company.
 So first I wanted to let you guys introduce yourselves.
 Like who is Xiaomi?
 Tell the world about yourselves.
 Sure.
 First of all, thanks for coming here and for having us.
 So Xiaomi is an interesting company that's a combination of hardware, software services,
 as well as e-commerce.
 So we started off as a company making a mobile operating system called MIUI, which is built
 on top of Android and it's been around for almost six years now.
 It was the very first thing we did.
 A year after launching MIUI, we launched our first phone and the thought there was simple.
 How can we get MIUI into the hands of as many people as possible?
 So we have always been thinking about hardware as a distribution vehicle for the software.
 Software which includes platform services, which of course we monetize.
 So think of us more as an internet company, a mobile internet company that monetizes on
 digital content, advertising and so on and so forth.
 And then e-commerce is our sales channel.
 In fact, it's our only commerce.
 We are the third largest e-commerce company in China and we only sell our own products
 through that channel.
 That allows us to sell direct to consumer.
 We have a direct relationship with the consumer.
 We don't have intermediaries, so we don't have to pay commissions and so on and so forth.
 So all of it supports this one business model, which is to be a mobile internet company.
 Let me ask you, you mentioned that your hardware store is built into the phone and that's a
 big deal for you.
 But also browsing around the interface there, I noticed that you also have Google's Play
 Store in there.
 That's right.
 Which doesn't figure in China.
 And China is your biggest market.
 So in a roundabout way, what I'm trying to get at is you have the Play Store in there
 because this isn't just a phone for China.
 We know you have India as the second market and you said there will be other markets and
 then the crowd kind of laughed because you were hinting at something more and I think
 your presence here at MWC is hinting at something more and something more global.
 So can you tell us more on that front?
 Sure.
 So to be clear on Google Play and Google services, we are a very close partner of Google's and
 we distribute GMS as we call it in every market outside of China, which is wherever they're
 available.
 We don't include Google's apps in our China build.
 So what we're playing with here today is our international build, which is what goes to
 India and all these other markets.
 Of course, our main focus for Mi 5 are our existing markets, including India and other
 markets, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.
 There's quite a few of them because those are the markets that were already present.
 We already have fans.
 They are clamoring for this product.
 And of course, we have other markets on our radar screen, but it's far too early to make
 any statements.
 So Mi 5 is not launching outside of our core markets.
 But we're starting to keep our eyes open.
 We're starting to build our brand.
 We came to MWC as a global platform because we're building up to an eventual launch.
 And we have no idea when it will happen.
 We're still working towards that.
 Really, very, very, very sharply focused on a few markets right now, especially India.
 But one day.
 One day.
 Yeah.
 One day Europe, one day the United States?
 Hopefully we'll get to both of those.
 It's just too early to tell when.
 And I actually don't know.
 I am not withholding information, but it's too early in the process to even be able to
 predict when it might happen.
 I understand.
 Well, just from my perspective, I feel like you've had a successful debut here at MWC.
 You've wowed a lot of people.
 You've impressed me.
 And I felt off on talking about the phone because we already did a big hands-on video
 and people can go and see it on theverge.com, on the internet.
 So Mi 5.
 Xiaomi has had this reputation, which you're not happy with, I'm sure, for copying Apple
 products.
 But I look at this phone and there is none of that.
 You've done your own unique industrial design.
 You did a whole excellent presentation.
 We love the fact that it got pretty geeky and down into the details.
 If anything, it reminds me more of Samsung's designs with the Galaxy series.
 So tell us a little bit about how you came up with the design.
 You also said it took you two years to put this phone together.
 The story started...
 Thank you for saying that, by the way, Vlad.
 It's actually very touching to hear that from an industry expert like yourself.
 It started with Mi Note, which was a 5.7-inch flagship that we launched almost exactly a
 year ago.
 Mi Note was the first smartphone to introduce a 3D curved glass back design, which some
 phones this year have.
 To be very clear, that was a design that we introduced last year with Mi Note.
 The other thing that we had with Mi Note was this notion of even though you have a very
 thin body, slim body, you can still have a flat camera that's flush on top of the rear
 part of the device and it's also tucked in on the corner.
 So the main design lines for Mi 5 are the ones we introduced with Mi Note.
 Of course, we made them better, but we also had to work extra hard to fit it all into
 a much smaller form factor.
 So this, you can safely now say, is our signature design.
 It is a curved 3D body.
 In fact, there's a ceramic version which you're holding right there.
 The way that we integrate the camera, it's not sticking out, it's not in the center of
 the device, it's very, very elegant.
 I think people are really going to start to look at phones out there and say, huh, that
 looks like a Xiaomi phone.
 Really?
 I do believe that this is going to happen because we are pioneers with this particular
 kind of design.
 We're already seeing it this year.
 I mean, I am not aware of Xiaomi's recognition in China.
 I don't spend that much time in China, so I'll take your word for that.
 On the ceramic, playing around with it, it feels a bit more substantial than the glass
 version, but still the dimensions of it are unchanged.
 This is going to be a pro model, so that comes with 128 gigabytes of storage, 4 gigabytes
 of RAM, but otherwise it's unchanged.
 Is there anything about the ceramic material that makes it different other than the fact
 that it just looks different?
 If you look at the hardness, Mohs scale, the zirconic ceramic that we're using is an 8.
 Diamond is, of course, a 10.
 It's the hardest on that scale, but steel is only a 4.
 Regular glass is somewhere in between, but ceramic is much, much more resistant to abrasion
 than any of the other materials.
 It's more expensive to make, and you can imagine how expensive having even a 3D surface like
 this would be, especially more so with ceramic.
 It's 75% more expensive, but it also takes a lot more work to make it.
 The process takes hours, and of course this is the first time we're doing it, so we're
 hoping that we're going to perfect it and perhaps make it cheaper for future models.
 But you're right, it just feels pretty unique.
 And that's the thing, you just described a very involved process, but even this, the
 Pro model, is something like $350, which is crazy to us.
 And I think from a Western perspective, I think I've been speaking for a lot of our
 readers when I say that we want that price, and we want that quality, and those materials,
 and everything else, just somewhere where we can actually buy it.
 So that builds up to the final question I want to ask of you, which is what should we
 expect from Xiaomi in the future?
 So I think first of all, you're going to continue to see us taking a leadership position in
 areas where perhaps people weren't expecting us, like mobile phone design, industrial design.
 This is just one product this year, it's our first flagship of the year, we have more products
 coming, and I think they're going to continue to raise the bar when it comes to design.
 In many ways, it takes a couple of years for a company that's not even six years old to
 get to the point where it has a rhythm, it has a pace.
 I've pushed a lot of people around internally over the last couple of years to really find
 that design language, because we want to be seen as an industry leader in every way, including
 design.
 I think we're finally getting there.
 That's a good teaser, thank you very much again, Hugo.
 Thanks Vlad.
 Thanks for having me.
 You want to go for a ride?
 You're good.
 I'll just lean forward slightly.