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Xiaomi Plans to 'Catch Up and Beat' the iPhone Following Mix Fold 3 Announcement
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There was a time when nobody thought IBM could be replaced...
My brother has a recent Xiaomi phone and the stock apps and their version of Android is some of the worst software I have had ever had the displeasure to encounter in 30 years of computing. It's also wide open from a security POV and has unremovable, intrusive apps that are riddled with user tracking nonsense. They have a long, long way to go to match the polish of the iPhone experience.
Yes, but how big is IBM in the PC market they once dominated in the 1980s? Xiaomi isn't trying to go after the entire Apple company, just the smartphone part of the business.
I'm not suggesting that the same thing will happen to Apple with the iPhone that happened to IBM with the PC but no company is guaranteed to dominate a particular market forever or even that a particular market will exist forever.
I welcome competition, imagine a world where Apple was the only maker of cell phones, no thanks!
Here's my bugbear with this line of argument.
Yes, I can agree that in the greater scheme of things, nothing lasts forever. However, people have been banging the death knells for Apple for well over a decade now, and the thing I have come to realise about all these critics is that:
1) They don't understand Apple
2) They don't understand business in general
If you want me to believe that you know the reason why Apple will fall, but at least demonstrate that you understand just how Apple grew to be as successful as it is today. But no, everywhere I turn, it's always the same old tired "Apple targets suckers who pay 3 times the price of an equivalent product elsewhere" trope. It's genuinely frustrating when you realise these people have no idea what makes Apple tick in the first place.
Simply claiming that "This company once thought invincible has fallen from grace, so Apple will too some day" just doesn't cut it, I feel. Maybe one day, Apple will be replaced by some newer kid on the block. And maybe one day, the critics will be right. But it's also like repeating to my face "You are going to die today" every single day. Eventually, I will pass on, be it from old age or some other ailment. But in the process of getting there, they would have been wrong enough times that even though they are eventually right, in the greater scheme of things, they would still have been wrong, because they don't understand the fundamental essence of just what makes Apple uniquely Apple.
I just wish/hope all companies fight for their life every day. Not for their sake, I don't care about companies at all. What I do care about is getting the best general product and I don't see Apple doing it. We keep hearing and seeing them postponing technology choices to the next generation(s) (screen quality, under-screen fingerprint scanner, more RAM, more/cheaper storage). The list goes and and they refuse to do anything if there is nothing but financial reason to do so.
When OnePlus came out they went above and beyond to give people what they wanted because they were literally fighting for their existence. And it is not because of they are a small company. Samsung and their foldable phone is a great example that Samsung feel they need to make a technical dent in the tech world and I think they are doing a great job. Not enough for me to swap my Apple Eco-system, but I didn't buy into Apple to have technology that are generations behind. Faster/better CPU? Sure. Great. But I buy Apple because the overall technology suite is (at least) on top of the trends.
So yeah, I hope Apple is god damn scared of not lasting forever, because they are getting too lazy in their current situation IMO.
I don't think Apple is getting lazy at all. Rather, I would argue that they look at innovation very differently from other companies.
I believe Apple looks at innovation as something that improves customers' lives. Rather than announce a splashy new feature or rushing to be first or different, Apple instead selects features and upgrades it thinks will lead to better experiences. An example of this is Emergency SOS, and how it recently helped in rescuing a family of 5 from almost certain doom.
Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite Feature Saves Family Caught in Maui Wildfires
The iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite feature played an important role in the rescue of a family in Maui that became trapped by the...
www.macrumors.com
What we are seeing here is Apple leveraging their tight control over hardware, software and services in order to offer a unique value proposition. It sounds like a fairly innocuous feature on paper (you can call for help in an area with no cell reception), but there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make this all happen. I imagine it wouldn't be cheap or easy for any other smartphone manufacturer to offer a similar service, considering how it actually requires you to partner with a satellite company (or maybe even own one in the future).
The same can be said for the ability to monitor falls and car crashes as well. It may not make for an exciting tech review video or lead a tech news cycle, but the value is undeniable (and has already been credited with saving numerous lives already).
Conversely, it is the competition who knows they don't have the deep pockets to match Apple in the ecosystem department, so they have to go with what will make for the flashiest product keynote (eg: folding screens, or a camera with an exaggerated pixel count).
Just as recent news broke that chatGPT was costing the company an average of $1 million a day, or that its integration with Bing doesn't seem to have helped it gain any noticeable market share. My takeaway is that people here are too easy wowed or distracted by flash tech demos. There is too much focus on specs and not enough on the user experience.
Even AI Hasn’t Helped Microsoft’s Bing Chip Away at Google’s Search Dominance
The new Bing with an AI chatbot is called “cute, but not a game changer.”
www.wsj.com
Good luck, they’re going to need it. Competition is good though!
In his dreams!
Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun this week said that the company is using Apple's iPhone as a benchmark to "catch up and beat it one day" (via South China Morning Post).
During the announcement of its latest flagship foldable smartphone, the Mix Fold 3, Lei repeatedly compared the new device to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. He stopped short of mentioning Xiaomi's aim to become the world's biggest smartphone vendor, a goal he first mentioned in August 2021.
Lei often attempts to characterize Xiaomi as a major rival to Apple, but the company's $300 billion market capitalization pales in comparison to Apple's almost $3 trillion valuation. Nevertheless, in the second quarter of 2021, Apple's iPhone sales were briefly surpassed by Xiaomi for the first time.
Xiaomi is actively aiming to capture the global high-end smartphone segment. Last year, Lei described competition with Apple as "a war of life and death." Xiaomi reportedly intends to attract more customers by distinguishing itself from other major Chinese Android smartphone brands that are also targeting Apple's lucrative high-end segment by focusing on user experience, as well as filling the void left by the likes of Huawei.
The Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 features an 8-inch AMOLED display, a 5x periscopic zoom camera, Leica optics, Qualcomm's second-generation Snapdragon processor, and 50W wireless charging. It starts at $1,240 and is currently available in China only.
Article Link: Xiaomi Plans to 'Catch Up and Beat' the iPhone Following Mix Fold 3 Announcement
