Xiaomi extends its footprint to Taiwan and Hong Kong

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp is selling its newly launched Mi 2S model in Hong Kong and Taiwan, in a bid to extend its reach in those regions.

The move shows that the Beijing-based company, which said last year that it planned to step out of the Chinese mainland, has eventually managed to expand its footprint.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder and CEO, unveiled the Mi 2S - the updated version of the second-generation Mi 2 - in Beijing on Tuesday.

The handset is equipped with a quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipset developed by Qualcomm Inc, and runs on Xiaomi's latest operating system, the Miui V5.

Consumers on the Chinese mainland were able to buy the phone online, starting at 1,999 yuan ($318.83), on Tuesday evening. Lei said that Xiaomi prepared 200,000 units for the first round of sales.

However, buyers in Hong Kong and Taiwan will have to wait two more weeks for the phone's release.

A Mi 2S with 16 gigabytes of storage will be sold for HK$2,499 ($322) in Hong Kong and for NT$9,499 ($316) in Taiwan.

"Even in Hong Kong or in Taiwan, I believe that Xiaomi's prices will always be attractive to local customers," Lei said at a news conference in Beijing.

At the same event, Xiaomi also unveiled the Mi 2A - a version of the Mi 2S targeted at younger consumers, such as college students, and priced at 1,499 yuan.

Founded in 2010, Xiaomi has seen rapid growth. The company, which posted 12.7 billion yuan in revenue in 2012, sold 7.19 million smartphones last year. It launched its first smartphones in August 2011.