Xiaomi to launch a pair of Linux notebooks next year

Chinese company Xiaomi is currently the world's fourth largest smartphone marker, and now they are apparently working on their first laptops. The first two models are expected to hit the market in early 2016 and will be manufactured by Compal Eletronics and Inventec.

Inventec chairman Richard Lee confirmed the company's collaboration with Xiaomi to build two laptops, but this is not the first time they join their forces. Inventec Corp. subsidiary Inventec Appliance Corp. assembled over 30 million Xiaomi handsets until now. Various recent rumors claim that Inventec will manufacture 250,000 12.5-inch notebooks while Compal has to deliver 500,000 13.3-inch laptops, all carrying the Xiaomi label.

Xiaomi has more than 200 million customers already, so the plan to ship 750,000 laptops by mid-2016 does not seem over-ambitious. However, shipping 750,000 Linux-powered notebooks might be a challenge. Xiaomi still has to confirm these portables, but we will get back to them as soon as that happens.