Xiaomi sold 61.12 million phones last year, partly as a result of its expansionary policies. Jun has taken the company into new markets such as India, where it sold one million devices in five months. Jun has confirmed That expansion will continue in 2015

Visual effects house Framestore garnered widespread, and deserved, praise for its work on Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. In 2014, it broadened its scope with work on the much-loved Paddington adaptation, as well as contributing work to Guardians of the Galaxy, Testament of Youth and Jupiter Ascending

3XN continued to grow in 2014, moving to a new studio in Copenhagen. Its ‘Blue Planet’ building won the Danish Steel Award, while it also released the first images of its design for the new headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland

Corning’s series of Gorilla Glass products continued in 2014, as Gorilla Glass 4 was announced. The glass is up to two times tougher than its competitors, and, when placed under strenuous breakage testing, survived up to 80 percent of the time: Soda-lime glass, used in many of today’s devices, broke almost 100 percent of the time

Intel is heavily pushing the idea of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), and in late 2014 announced its IoT Platform, which unifies gateway, connectivity and security components. Intel describes the platform as an “end-to-end reference model”, and believes it will help deliver innovation quickly

In October, Nielsen announced it would be partnering with Adobe to create the ratings industry’s first comprehensive measurement platform for digital content. Nielsen is already the most respected ratings reporting company, and ‘Digital Content Ratings’, with support from Adobe Analytics census data, should further cement that position

In August 2014, Etsy Wholesale officially launched out of its beta testing phase. Retailers pay a $100 one-time joining fee, and from then on Etsy takes a small percentage of their transaction fees. Etsy Wholesale, combined with Etsy’s everyday operations, should see its profit continue to rise

Oculus’ ‘Crescent Cove’ headset is the virtual reality headset that could change how computing functions forever. Although still not available to the consumer, Oculus’ latest prototype is producing some effusive responses in the tech community. The potential uses for the technology are innumerable

According to SpaceX, its new rocket – the Falcon Heavy – will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two when it launches later this year. This new technology, as well as SpaceX’s ongoing commitment to reusable rockets, is testament to the company’s ongoing drive for innovation

In late November last year, 3D Systems announced 3DSPRINT, a cloud-based platform that allows easy access to and sharing of 3D data. Users of the new system can access on-demand cloud printing capabilities quickly and simply – it’s also free to use, and is proving popular

ARM components are used in 95 percent of smartphones. 2014 was a strong year, given the release of Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which contain arm technology. The success of those devices, as well as some licence sales, led to a substantial growth in profits

Baidu spent $650m on research and development in 2014 in an attempt to develop more mobile-friendly services. It also launched Baidu Wallet, a mobile payment system, in April last year