We traveled to Beijing, China, to get a closer look at Xiaomi’s growing ecosystem of devices, electric vehicles, and the technology behind its manufacturing facilities.
When you think of Xiaomi, the first thing that probably comes to mind is smartphones. After all, that’s where the company started. But over the years, Xiaomi has expanded its portfolio beyond mobile devices, introducing everything from smart home appliances and wearables to electric vehicles (EVs).
And while we’ve seen many of these products during launches and tech showcases, it’s a different experience seeing where the technology comes together and how these devices are actually made.
On November 4, 2026, we traveled from the Philippines to Beijing, China, for a three-day trip to explore Xiaomi’s innovations firsthand. Our itinerary included a visit to the Xiaomi Campus and its AIoT showroom, followed by a tour of the company’s EV and smartphone manufacturing facilities.
Little did we know that this trip would involve more than just looking at new gadgets.
Day 1: From the Philippines to Beijing, China
Our journey started on November 4, when we flew from the Philippines to Beijing.
While we’ve attended our fair share of tech events, visiting a company’s headquarters and production facilities offers a different perspective. Instead of just learning about the specifications and features of a product, we get to see the technology, processes, and engineering decisions that go into making it.
This was particularly interesting considering Xiaomi’s evolution from a smartphone manufacturer into a company with an increasingly diverse product ecosystem.
In fact, according to Xiaomi’s corporate briefing, 47.2% of its workforce was involved in research and development as of June 30, 2026. The company also reported holding more than 47,000 patents worldwide.
These figures give us an idea of how much Xiaomi is investing in developing its own technologies rather than relying entirely on third-party solutions.
With our itinerary set for the following day, we wrapped up Day 1 and prepared for our first stop: Xiaomi’s Campus.
Day 2: Exploring Xiaomi’s AIoT Ecosystem and Its Newest EVs
Our second day kicked off with a visit to the Xiaomi Campus, where we explored its AIoT showroom.
For those unfamiliar, AIoT stands for Artificial Intelligence of Things, which essentially refers to smart devices that can communicate and work together within a connected ecosystem.
This is also where Xiaomi’s Human × Car × Home strategy comes into play.
Introduced in 2023, the strategy aims to connect personal devices, smart home products, and electric vehicles through Xiaomi’s HyperOS platform.
The idea is to create a more connected experience, allowing different devices to work together rather than function independently.
To put things into perspective, Xiaomi reported more than 1.16 billion connected devices through its HyperOS ecosystem.
We’ve seen Xiaomi introduce plenty of these products over the years, but seeing them gathered in one place gives you a better idea of just how extensive its ecosystem has become.
Xiaomi SkyNomad: More Than Just an Electric Vehicle
One of the first products that caught our attention was the Xiaomi SkyNomad, an electric SUV designed with flexible interior configurations for different lifestyles.
Unlike conventional vehicles where the seating arrangement is pretty much fixed, the SkyNomad features a flat-floor cabin with rail-mounted seats that can rotate, slide, and be reconfigured depending on what the occupants need.
Imagine being able to transform your vehicle into a mobile office, a meeting area, or even a sleeping space during a camping trip.
That’s essentially what Xiaomi is trying to achieve here.
Instead of designing a vehicle solely around driving, Xiaomi is exploring how the interior can function as an extension of your living or working space.
It’s an interesting approach, especially for people who enjoy road trips, outdoor activities, or simply want more flexibility from their vehicles.
We also had the chance to step inside the SkyNomad and take a closer look at its interior. Right away, the attention to detail stood out. From the overall design to the quality of the materials and fabrics, everything felt premium, giving the cabin a luxurious look and feel.
But what impressed me the most was how easily the interior could transform. What initially looked like a conventional car cabin could be reconfigured into a meeting room or even a full-sized bed. It’s quite fascinating to see how Xiaomi is rethinking the traditional car interior and turning it into a space that goes beyond just driving.
A Closer Look at the Xiaomi YU7
We also got to check out the Xiaomi YU7, the company’s luxury electric SUV.
While Xiaomi’s earlier SU7 focused on the electric sedan market, the YU7 takes a different approach with a larger SUV body style, combining performance with additional passenger and cargo space.
Depending on the variant, the YU7 offers different performance capabilities. The top-spec YU7 Max, for instance, has a claimed maximum speed of 253 km/h, which is quite impressive for a vehicle of its size.
But beyond the numbers, what makes the YU7 interesting is how Xiaomi integrates its technology into the driving experience, from the vehicle’s displays and infotainment system to its connectivity features.
For a company that built its reputation on smartphones, seeing its approach to automotive technology up close was certainly interesting.
And as we would discover the following day, we would also get the opportunity to experience the YU7 on Xiaomi’s own test track.
A Quick Lunch Stop and a Sneak Peek at What’s Next
After exploring the showroom, we headed to Bei Ping Lou for lunch.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any food photos to share from this stop. I was already too hungry after the tour that taking pictures was the last thing on my mind.
Sometimes, you really just have to enjoy the food.
Once we finished lunch, we headed back to the Xiaomi Campus for another session.
This time, we attended a pre-briefing for an upcoming Xiaomi smartphone.
Now, we can’t share all the details just yet, but we did get an early look at some of the innovations Xiaomi is working on for its next device.
And from what we’ve seen, there’s one particularly interesting feature worth looking forward to.
We’ll talk more about that once we’re allowed to share the details.
Dinner at Yuxiandu: A Royal Dining Experience
To end our second day, we headed to Yuxiandu, a royal cuisine museum in Beijing.
And I must say, this was probably one of the grandest dining experiences I’ve ever had.
It wasn’t just about the food.
Each dish was presented almost like a performance, with artistic plating, storytelling, and traditional cultural dances accompanying the meal.
At some point, it felt less like sitting inside a restaurant and more like watching a theatrical production, except the food was part of the show.
What made the experience memorable was how every presentation seemed to have a story behind it.
It was a nice change of pace from all the technology we had been seeing throughout the day, and a reminder that Beijing has plenty to offer beyond its modern innovations.
Day 3: Inside Xiaomi’s EV and Smartphone Factories
If Day 2 was about seeing Xiaomi’s finished products, Day 3 was about understanding how those products are made.
Our itinerary took us to Xiaomi’s EV manufacturing facility and smartphone factory, where we were given a closer look at the company’s production processes.
This was arguably one of the most interesting parts of the trip.
After all, it’s one thing to see a finished electric vehicle on display. It’s another to witness how its components come together on an actual production line.
Inside Xiaomi’s EV Factory: Robots Doing the Heavy Lifting
Our first factory stop was Xiaomi’s EV manufacturing facility, located in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.
And to say that the facility is massive would be an understatement.
The entire factory covers approximately 718,000 square meters, with a building area of 396,000 square meters.
It’s a large-scale manufacturing complex that brings together vehicle production, research and development, testing, and customer experience facilities.
According to Xiaomi, the factory is designed to produce as many as 40 Xiaomi SU7 vehicles per hour when operating at full production capacity.
But what immediately stood out during our visit was the level of automation.
Much of the production process relies on industrial robots, especially in areas where precision, repetition, and consistency are essential.
We watched machines handle different stages of vehicle assembly, carrying out tasks that would otherwise require considerable manual labor.
According to Xiaomi, its body workshop uses more than 700 robots, with critical production processes fully automated and an overall body-workshop automation rate of 91%.
And seeing these machines work in person helps explain why manufacturers are investing heavily in automation.
Robots can perform repetitive tasks with consistent precision, while employees focus on monitoring production, conducting inspections, addressing irregularities, and making decisions that require human judgment.
It’s not simply about replacing manual work with machines. It’s also about improving manufacturing consistency and maintaining quality as production scales.
Taking the Xiaomi YU7 for a Spin on the Test Track
One of the highlights of our factory visit was getting to experience the Xiaomi YU7 on the company’s own test track.
Located within the EV manufacturing complex, the 2.5-kilometer track features 18 different road conditions designed to evaluate various aspects of a vehicle’s performance.
According to Xiaomi, every SU7 manufactured at the facility must undergo dynamic testing on this track before being delivered to customers.
We got to ride inside the YU7 as it went through the test track, giving us a firsthand experience of how the vehicle handled the course.
And while reading about performance specifications is one thing, actually being inside the vehicle makes the experience more tangible.
What surprised us the most during the test ride was just how quickly the Xiaomi YU7 accelerated. We knew electric vehicles could deliver instant torque, but we still weren’t expecting that kind of acceleration. It almost felt like being on a roller coaster, with the sudden burst of speed pushing us back into our seats in what seemed like just a second.
The experience was so unexpected that I barely had the chance to appreciate how comfortable the seats were. I was too focused on the acceleration and how quickly the vehicle picked up speed. It was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the entire factory tour.
Checking Out Xiaomi’s EV Lineup
We also visited the EV showroom, where Xiaomi displayed several vehicles from its growing automotive portfolio.
Among those showcased were the Xiaomi SkyNomad, Xiaomi YU7, and Xiaomi SU7 Ultra.
The vehicles represent different approaches to electric mobility, from the flexible interior arrangements of the SkyNomad to the SUV-focused YU7 and the performance-oriented SU7 Ultra.
Seeing them together gives a better perspective on where Xiaomi is taking its automotive division.
Rather than focusing on a single vehicle category, the company is exploring different segments of the EV market.
And considering that Xiaomi started as a smartphone company in 2010, its expansion into automotive manufacturing is quite a significant development.
Inside Xiaomi’s Smart Factory: Automation, Production, and Quality Control
Our final factory stop brought us back to the product category that started it all: smartphones.
We visited the Xiaomi Smart Factory at Changping Future Science City in Beijing, a manufacturing facility that began operating in February 2024.
According to Xiaomi, the project has received an investment of approximately RMB 2.4 billion, with a developed area of 81,000 square meters.
But what makes this facility particularly interesting isn’t just its size.
It’s how much of the manufacturing process Xiaomi has automated.
During our tour, we got a closer look at how Xiaomi manufactures its smartphones, and what stood out was the level of automation involved.
The facility has 11 production lines, with critical processes fully automated and an overall automation rate of 81%. According to Xiaomi, the factory can produce over 10 million smartphones annually, averaging approximately one smartphone every six seconds.
What’s also interesting is that Xiaomi developed its own manufacturing technology. The factory uses 100% self-developed software and 96.8% self-developed hardware, powered by the Xiaomi Hyper Intelligent Manufacturing Platform (IMP), which monitors production efficiency, product quality, and even inventory levels.
Of course, quality control is just as important as production speed. Before packaging, smartphones undergo several tests covering their cameras, displays, speakers, sensors, and overall performance. Xiaomi also has aging test chambers capable of testing over 2,400 smartphones simultaneously to evaluate long-term performance and stability.
Despite the extensive automation, people still play an important role in monitoring operations, conducting inspections, and addressing production issues.
Seeing these processes firsthand gave us a better appreciation of how much technology and precision go into manufacturing the smartphones we use every day.
Final Thoughts: Xiaomi Has Come a Long Way
After spending three days in Beijing, one thing became clear: Xiaomi has come a long way from being just a smartphone company.
From exploring its AIoT showroom and experiencing the Xiaomi YU7 to witnessing how EVs and smartphones are manufactured, the trip gave us a better appreciation of the engineering and innovation behind these products.
What impressed me most was the level of automation and precision involved in manufacturing, showing just how much Xiaomi has evolved over the years.
With its Human × Car × Home strategy, Xiaomi continues to expand beyond smartphones, connecting personal devices, smart homes, and electric vehicles into one ecosystem.
Overall, it was a memorable experience that gave us a closer look at Xiaomi’s innovations and how the company is shaping its future beyond smartphones.