OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2016. Even China's Xiaomi, the second-highest startup in the world, appears to be suffering from the maturing phone market.

The smartphone manufacturer saw only a 5 percent increase in revenue in 2015 over 2014, growing from 74.3 billion yuan (\\$11. 3 billion) to 78 billion yuan (\\$11.9 billion), according to a report in Fortune, which cited a public relations official who spoke at a Beijing tech conference over the weekend. An Xiaomi spokeswoman later told Fortune the the company has never shared that revenue figure and declined to comment on it.

An increase that small is considered "flat" by finance folks, and in line with the industry, which is having trouble maintaining the growth rates of yesteryear. Like many other phone companies, Xiaomi has been attempting to expand into new territory, such as action cameras like the Yi, media streamers like the Mi Box, personal transportation in the Ninebot Mini and most recently, drones.

The company is still worth north of \\$40 billion, according to the Fortune report, which makes its startup valuation second only to Uber.

We've reached out to Xiomi for comment but haven't yet heard back.