Well the media lost Huawei so they bring in Xiaomi to keep the news flowing….always have to invent conflict to sell the news that’s basic News 101 class
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Xiaomi Pledges 'War of Life and Death' Against Apple to Become World's Biggest Smartphone Brand
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Lots of Apple products, if not all, contain Chinese components.
In fact, lotsa products you buy are Chinese or contain Chinese parts.
If opening stores anywhere was good for expanding smartphones brand, the Ronald McPhone would be unbeatable now.
I hope he realises that if this endeavour gets vaguely successful, the US will find a reason to nip it in the bud. We'll hear about links with the Chinese army, corruption, whatever and Xiaomi would end up going the way of ZTE and/or Huawei in no time. Stay humble, stay longer.
Xiaomi intends to step up its challenge to Apple, the company's founder announced this week (via South China Morning Post).
Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun said on Chinese social media platform Weibo that the company will specifically focus on the high-end segment of the global smartphone market in an effort to directly rival Apple, attempting to fill the void left by Huawei. Huawei was previously China's largest smartphone vendor before being forced to pull out of the U.S. market. Lei explained that Xiaomi seeks to become the world's largest smartphone vendor within three years.
"[We aim to] fully benchmark against Apple in [terms of] product and experience, and become China's biggest high-end brand in the next three years," Lei added. He went on to describe competition with Apple in the high-end smartphone segment as "a war of life and death" that Xiaomi must overcome.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, Apple overtook Vivo to become the top smartphone brand in China for the first time in six years. Simultaneously, Apple became the leading smartphone vendor in the world, with one in every five smartphones sold being an iPhone.
Like many companies, Xiaomi has struggled with supply chain issues over the past two years, which has hindered the company's expansion. Nevertheless, in the second quarter of 2021, Apple's iPhone sales were briefly surpassed by Xiaomi for the first time.
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. This will involve 20,000 new retail stores in China over the next three years, adding to the 10,000 stores that it currently operates in the country. The company is also investing almost $16 billion in research and development over the next five years.
Article Link: Xiaomi Pledges 'War of Life and Death' Against Apple to Become World's Biggest Smartphone Brand
I can't avoid that but I can avoid buying a Chinese product from a Chinese company
Ah yes Xiaomi.
They opened an actual retail outlet here in the UK a while ago at Westfield. It was completely empty. No customers at all. It was labelled “Mi” as well clearly to avoid the obvious Chinese name which tends to be associated with “cheap spyware ridden android ****” here.
In contrast I went past it on the way to a battery swap appointment at the apple store. That was completely rammed to the point they were operating multiple queues depending on what you wanted to do.
Still I was in and out and had a new battery in my old 6s (my mother’s phone) in 90 minutes.
They opened an actual retail outlet here in the UK a while ago at Westfield. It was completely empty. No customers at all. It was labelled “Mi” as well clearly to avoid the obvious Chinese name which tends to be associated with “cheap spyware ridden android ****” here.
In contrast I went past it on the way to a battery swap appointment at the apple store. That was completely rammed to the point they were operating multiple queues depending on what you wanted to do.
Still I was in and out and had a new battery in my old 6s (my mother’s phone) in 90 minutes.
What were smartphones like before the iPhone? The iPhone was completely revolutionary. It was not iterative.
Edit: I'm a little slow this morning and didn't catch that you were being sarcastic.
Think this is a good challenge. Get Apple out of the limelight. /s
Good news is that more and more global companies leave China, doing business in china is getting less cheap, it’s also harder to do business in China, look at the zero covid policy in China, business owners don’t like it at all.
Me thinks China is over it’s top, they’ll slide down from here, which sound like music in my ears.
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I’m not being sarcastic. Apple did not invent the smartphone because smartphones existed before the iPhone (as you acknowledge in your post). They made a really good line of smartphones.
The only way you could think they invented the category is if you don’t know what invent means.
How do they intend to copy Apple’s approach on privacy?
It's a China-phobic view, but I wouldn't trust any Chinese assocaited phone company that can push new firmware to your phone containing whatever suspect elements they want whenever they want, I'm not saying other countries and manufacturers are perfect either but at least there's more accountability and a better record of trust... especially with someone like Apple.
Yes just the company names are a showstopper for many “Huawei”, “Xiaomi”, I can barely pronounce them correctly. If they are to sell as well as iPhones or Samsungs here in the EU, they need other branding. And for me and many others, the real problem is trust.
Fair play to him, always good to set the bar high but he needs to deliver on it.
Xiaomi wanting to be a high end brand? Like how? 
Xiaomi's main pitch has always been fair price and margin within just 10%. Basically a commodity. This is also why currently Xiaomi is suffering. Due to the component shortages, Xiaomi has been reusing older or less desirable SoCs for their newer lineup, even seemingly a downgrade over the previous ones. And although they might keep pushing new models in China, they have been slowing down their releases in my country.
Xiaomi would have a long way to even get to where Apple is today. Whatever growth they are having are at the expense of Huawei's loss. Samsung is still strong, and even stronger in many segments where Xiaomi used to win. In my country, Samsung's lowest model model starts at around $80, while Xiaomi's cheapest handset is at least $100.
Asian companies have always had challenges in branding. Look at the most valuable brands globally, and most of them are western brands, with maybe Samsung or Japanese brands in between.
Imo Xiaomi's first step should be strengthening their software. MiUI can be very buggy, and many handsets are left with buggy firmware since the company is more interested in releasing dozens of newer models.
Xiaomi's biggest competition is the BBK group (Oppo, Vivo, Realme, OnePlus). BBK group is extremely focused in marketing. They dialed marketing to 11, and they gave resellers better margins so offline resellers are more keen in pushing Oppo/Vivo phones to customers. Xiaomi's USP remains in better spec for the price, although that's increasingly arguable.
Xiaomi's main pitch has always been fair price and margin within just 10%. Basically a commodity. This is also why currently Xiaomi is suffering. Due to the component shortages, Xiaomi has been reusing older or less desirable SoCs for their newer lineup, even seemingly a downgrade over the previous ones. And although they might keep pushing new models in China, they have been slowing down their releases in my country.Xiaomi would have a long way to even get to where Apple is today. Whatever growth they are having are at the expense of Huawei's loss. Samsung is still strong, and even stronger in many segments where Xiaomi used to win. In my country, Samsung's lowest model model starts at around $80, while Xiaomi's cheapest handset is at least $100.
Asian companies have always had challenges in branding. Look at the most valuable brands globally, and most of them are western brands, with maybe Samsung or Japanese brands in between.
Imo Xiaomi's first step should be strengthening their software. MiUI can be very buggy, and many handsets are left with buggy firmware since the company is more interested in releasing dozens of newer models.
Xiaomi's biggest competition is the BBK group (Oppo, Vivo, Realme, OnePlus). BBK group is extremely focused in marketing. They dialed marketing to 11, and they gave resellers better margins so offline resellers are more keen in pushing Oppo/Vivo phones to customers. Xiaomi's USP remains in better spec for the price, although that's increasingly arguable.
the Windows phones of the era were dying in uselessness. RIM was still using a side mounted wheel on their basic phones. The interface and approach to making the smart phone usable was so radically different that yes, they pretty much can claim to have invented it. Sure, there were items on the market that sorta kinda maybe looked the same, but the holistic approach was so well developed that it was a radical departure in the experience of using a phone.
It’s a simple question: did smart phones exist before the iPhone came out in 2007? I sure remember owning a few. If the answer is yes, then they did not invent the smartphone.
They made the first smart phone that anyone actually wanted to buy. I had Windows CE phones before Apple created the iPhone. Before the iPhone, people having cell phones were an extremely niche market where only business people and those in high tech had one (for me, it was being in high tech). After the iPhone, everyone has one, including little kids. It's better to say Apple created the modern smart phone. What passed for smart phones before the iPhone was crap. I had many different ones and I could never mention my phone without a curse word since they were so bad. Apple made the smart phone popular and mainstream.
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macrumors 65816
Indeed. They didn't invent it at all.
I watch Drag Race religiously and all I can see is an Untucked episode with two Queens fighting while clapping their hands like this. Lol
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So, "We want to be the biggest and bestest," said the company that uses someone else's chips and the same OS as all the rest?
Would love to see two Queens slaying Xiaomi with hand claps.