Xiaomi to launch a laptop in 1H 2016

One of the largest Taiwanese contract smartphone and laptop makers announced it received laptop orders from Xiaomi. Inventec chairman Richard Lee stated that his company is making Xiaomi's first laptop at a China-based production plant, and that shipments are scheduled to begin in the first half of 2016.

The first of Xiaomi's laptops will be aimed at the Chinese market and will focus on low pricing. Previous rumors claimed Xiaomi is also working on a competitor to premium laptops like Apple's MacBook Air and Lenovo's ThinkPad.

“I am upbeat about the business outlook for Xiaomi’s notebook computers, as the firm has more than 200 million registered smartphone users,” Lee told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th cross-strait forum on technical standards for information technology held in New Taipei City.

Lee said Xiaomi is likely to adopt the same smartphone business strategy for its laptop products — which is different from other companies’ conventional way of selling servers, desktop and notebook computers.