Xiaomi will replace its app store with fintech PhonePe’s offering for customers in India starting January. The move is a major win for the Indian startup, as well as a sign of further recalibration for the Chinese hardware giant in one of its biggest markets outside its home country.
Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone vendor in India after Vivo, will automatically push the update to customers’ devices in India to replace GetApps with PhonePe’s Indus AppStore, it informed customers over the weekend.
“The GetApps team will continue providing app installation and support services under the name Indus Services App,” stated a customer notice seen by TechCrunch.
Xiaomi has shipped more than 250 million smartphones and another 100 million other devices in India since beginning operations in the country in 2013. But after a strong start in India, Xiaomi has also faced some struggles. On the heels of a scandal related to illegal remittances, the company wound down its financial services business in 2022. And amid tensions between India and China, its market share has declined and its executive bench has seen a lot of changes.
PhonePe — backed by investors including Walmart, General Atlantic and Tiger Global — launched the Indus AppStore in February this year, seeking to challenge Google’s monopoly in India, which is the Android giant’s largest market by users. (Vivo also offers users both its own V-Appstore and Google Play, the official Android store.)
A number of businesses in India, as is the case in many parts of the world, have voiced concerns about Google’s “excessive” fees of up to 30% on app transactions in recent years and complained that the Android maker doesn’t permit use of third-party in-app payments on the Play Store.
PhonePe’s Indus AppStore seeks to address some of these concerns with its first-year no listing fee, support for third-party payments providers, local languages as well as customer support.
Xiaomi and PhonePe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
