Xiaomi has announced it will open an online store for US customers.
While the China-based smartphone company will not launch its flagship smartphones there, it will sell a range of products online including headphones and wearables.
At an event with prominent Silicon Valley press, the manufacturer explained that hardware certification and phone subsidy structures in the US prevented it from launching handsets there.
However, the company hopes to launch its smartphones in Brazil in its first push outside of China, claiming that it is close to securing a manufacturing partner there.
Driven by sales of its popular low-cost smartphones, the precocious five-year-old startup was valued in December at around $45 billion, making it the world’s most valuable privately held company. It is now the third biggest smartphone maker globally, shifting 61 million handsets sold in 2014.
