Xiaomi was traded publicly for the first time today on Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (symbol: 1810-HK), with the market having since closed for the day. Xiaomi's target price for its initial public offering was $17HK per share, an expectation it failed to meet.

The stock fell upwards of 6% in early trading, but later rallied to close in on that target IPO price, ending the day at $16.80HK. This gives the smartphone maker a market capitalization (value) of over $50 billion, a far cry from the 0 billion Xiaomi sought when announcing its plans for an IPO earlier this year. Still, $50 billion isn't nothing, and while the stock failed to rally in a way Xiaomi's board had likely hoped, things could always have gone worse.

As a result, Xiaomi is now one of the most valuable publicly-traded smartphone companies on earth. Though a far cry from Apple, Google, or even Samsung in terms of overall market capitalization, Xiaomi is - on paper - now worth more than three times as much as the entirety of LG Electronics. Think about that for a second.

Of course, Xiaomi is overall a much smaller company than many of the brands it now finds itself compared to. Xiaomi's revenue goals for fiscal 2017 were around $16.8 billion, a goal it said it achieved by the end of October. While LG is valued at less than a third of Xiaomi, it generated over three times the sales in 2017 (over billion in revenue). Major questions remain about Xiaomi's ability to profitably expand outside Southeast Asia, with competitors like Huawei and HMD Global (Nokia) - both of which are privately held companies - having already established foothelds in Western Europe and other key markets Xiaomi is likely looking to grow into.

With global smartphone growth slipping, I could see two major narratives unfold for Xiaomi - one good, one bad. The positive outlook holds that, in a market where consumers are holding onto phones longer and shopping around more, Xiaomi's value-first approach will have real appeal. If a smartphone is merely a means to an end, why spend more money than strictly necessary on one? The other bodes far more poorly: the smartphone market has become saturated, and consumers are inundated with ads and incentives from much larger brands with more value-adds to offer than Xiaomi, especially outside of China. Xiaomi could find it intensely difficult to break into markets where Samsung and Apple are heavily entrenched, even with its price-conscious approach.

Only time will tell what the future holds for Xiaomi, and today's IPO didn't seem to clear up any long-term questions about the company.