Xiaomi may be building up its collection of patents prior to its launch in the United States. The Chinese company is almost certainly planning to reach the US and in a recent interview, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's VP of global operations, said a "war chest" of patents would need to exist before a US expansion. Patent lawsuits are incredibly common in the US and Xiaomi cannot enter the market without its own collection.

Without confirming Xiaomi would enter the US, Barra told Bloomberg that "a sizable team" would be needed for the expansion to "manage the whole process operationally - certification, ongoing engineering help, and so on."

Xiaomi has technically arrived in the US already but its online store is only selling accessories to US customers. A real launch would include selling phones.

The company has only existed for five years, but it is already putting up a fight in the Chinese phone market and it has expanded to countries including Brazil, India, and the Philippines.

Barra says a US launch would take at least a year of preparation.