Smartphone maker Xiaomi doubled its revenue to $12 billion in 2014

Xiaomi plans to expand further abroad after selling 1 million handsets in 2014 in India. File photo: Kamal Narang

The chairman of Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi says its sales more than doubled last year to $12.2 billion.

In a posting on his company blog, Jun Lei said the 5-year-old company sold 61.1 million handsets, a 227 per cent increase over 2013. Revenue rose 135 per cent to 74.3 billion yuan ($12.2 billion).

Xiaomi overtook South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. in the second quarter of last year to become China’s biggest selling smartphone brand by number of handsets sold.

Founder Lei Jun said Xiaomi plans to expand further abroad after selling 1 million handsets last year in India, its biggest foreign market.

An Indian court blocked some sales in December after Sweden’s Ericsson complained Xiaomi violated its patents. Mr. Lei called the case a “rite of passage” for a young company.