Xiaomi is a Chinese mobile phone maker, and suddenly they're getting lots of attention for a bunch of new products that apparently are really good, like a new phablet called the Mi Note. Is this the year when Chinese phone makers finally crack the U.S. market?

Xiaomi's CEO is Lei Jun, who is also known as "the Steve Jobs of China." Its secret weapon is Hugo Barra, who was a top dog in Android team at Google before leaving to become vide president of international at Xiaomi.

Two predictions: Xiaomi will start making inroads in the U.S. this year. Second other Chinese phone makers will too. One to watch is Huawei, whose revenues grew 20 percent last year.