Xiaomi's growth bites into Apple's carrier expansion

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp said it sold 18.7 million smartphones in 2013, up 160 percent year-on-year, and that it officially expanded to Singapore on Jan 1, in a bid to enter the global market.

Lei Jun, founder and chief executive officer of Xiaomi, said in an internal e-mail that the company had sales of 31.6 billion yuan ($5.18 billion) last year, an increase of 150 percent over the previous year. Lei said previously that he expects the company's revenue to hit 100 billion yuan by 2015.

"Xiaomi will see shipments of more than 40 million handsets in 2014," Lei wrote in the e-mail.