SMARTPHONE maker Xiaomi Inc., China’s most valuable startup, more than doubled Internet services revenue in 2015 to about US$564 million, according to an internal document reviewed by Reuters, but still fell well short of an internal target of US$1 billion.

    Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun had set the US$1 billion target last year. Like peers such as Apple Inc., the Beijing-based firm is trying to sidestep a slowdown in the world’s largest handset market by coaxing buyers of its smartphones to also purchase Internet services.

    Internet services revenue, which include games and mobile payment apps, surged 150 percent to 3.71 billion yuan (US$563.94 million) from 1.48 billion yuan a year earlier, the document from China’s second-biggest smartphone vendor showed.

    Within its Internet services business, Xiaomi recorded revenue from mobile games alone of 2.6 billion yuan in 2015, more than double 1.21 billion yuan a year earlier, the document showed.

    A spokeswoman for privately owned Xiaomi declined to comment on revenue for 2015.

    (SD-Agencies)