Xiaomi to preinstall PhonePe’s app store on smartphones sold in India

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said on Thursday that its Android smartphones sold in India will come preinstalled with Indian fintech company PhonePe’s app store.

Xiaomi’s Android smartphones usually come preinstalled with Google’s Play Store and the Chinese company’s own GetApps. Xiaomi said that it has signed a multi-year deal with PhonePe to replace GetApps with the latter’s Indus Appstore. This confirms TechCrunch’s reporting last year about the partnership.

Google’s Play Store will still come preinstalled on Xiaomi’s devices. The companies did not specify if the Indus Appstore would also be rolled out to existing Xiaomi devices that have already been sold or are currently available to buy at retailers. They also did not mention when this will come into effect.

PhonePe has been trying to take on the likes of Google for a share of the Indian app market, promising to charge zero fees from developers for in-app purchases. Indus Appstore supports 12 Indian languages, features a video-led discovery feed, and has more than 500,000 apps across different categories.

However, alternative app stores have found it difficult to scale because it takes time to establish trust with users and convince users to install yet another app store. PhonePe is trying to get over at least one of those hurdles by having its app store be preinstalled on new smartphones. The fintech has so far not published any numbers to indicate how many downloads and money its app store is garnering for developers.

“As India’s digital ecosystem continues to grow, the demand for a locally driven app marketplace has never been more critical. At Xiaomi India, we have always championed ‘Make for India’ innovations, and this partnership with Indus Appstore is a strategic step in that direction,” Xiaomi India’s COO, Sudhin Mathur, said in a statement.