Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Uber Technologies Inc. will deliver Xiaomi Corp. smartphones in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in the first partnership between the world’s most valuable technology startups.

Customers can order the Mi Note with a 5.7-inch screen through Uber’s application a day before the device is available on Xiaomi’s own website, the Beijing-based smartphone maker said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. Users can pay through the app, while the phone will be delivered in minutes, it said.

After outselling Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in China, Xiaomi is expanding overseas and selling devices such as air filters and headphones after a funding round in December valued the five-year-old company at $45 billion. Ride-hailing service Uber has been valued at $50 billion, even as it deals with losses that outstrip revenue and battles regulators and politicians around the world.

Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are the first markets the companies are teaming up in with plans to extend the pact to other regions of Asia.

Xiaomi is selling the Mi Note for S$569 ($416) with the device available through Uber on July 27. The company typically sells direct to consumers online, bypassing phone operators in most markets, to reduce costs.