Xiaomi Pledges 'War of Life and Death' Against Apple to Become World's Biggest Smartphone Brand

[BF1M]

Smart phones, not cell phones. I think you have difficulty separating the two. You keep saying cell phones. Very few people outside of business or high tech had smart phones. Anyone outside of that tended to either not have a mobile phone or had a dumb cell phone. Smart phones were a tiny portion of cell phones. Now smart phones make up almost 100% of cell phone sales. They are not the same thing.

I’m not confusing anything. Neither smartphones or cell phones were rare in 2007; Blackberry, as we have all mentioned, was an established player. For the third time, I was not in “high tech” and used a smartphone for years and regularly interfaced with those that did also on a daily basis.

I say cellphones in responses to what you said; again I can only give an rebuttal to what you type not what you mean\think

To quote you: "We had to drive to the nearest payphone because few people had cell phones back then." Niche market.

 

[russell_314]

If there was a time for a “new player” so to speak it would be now though. Apple hasn’t innovated in years with iPhone. Even by the time we get a folding iPhone they will be years behind.

What innovation has Samsung made other than a not ready for primetime folding phone?

Apple normally doesn’t innovate in the sense of throwing things at a wall to see what sticks. They let other manufacturers make the prototypes then maybe a few years later make a working version.

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

Xiaomi has world-class manufacturing chops with average off-brand software. I have a hard time seeing them infiltrate the high-end smartphone market in North America and Europe, but maybe they don't need to given the size of other markets.

 

[Villarrealadrian]

Chinese companies won't see a penny from me

Remember Designed in California MADE IN CHINA… so maybe they are seeng your pennies

 

[tobybrut]

I’m not confusing anything. Neither smartphones or cell phones were rare in 2007; Blackberry, as we have all mentioned, was an established player.

I say cellphones in responses to what you said; again I can only give an rebuttal to what you type not what you mean\think

To quote you: "We had to drive to the nearest payphone because few people had cell phones back then." Niche market.

We'll have to disagree then. I stand by everything I say. Very few people had cell phones back then. A tinier fraction had smart phones. Watch that video to parody a time when almost no one had cell phones back in 1994. Not that many more people had cell phones either by 2006.

 

[BF1M]

What innovation has Samsung made other than a not ready for primetime folding phone?

Apple normally doesn’t innovate in the sense of throwing things at a wall to see what sticks. They let other manufacturers make the prototypes then maybe a few years later make a working version.

Didn’t say they had innovated either. We haven’t seen a true evolution of smartphones….well since the iPhone. Not sure we ever will see one that grabs ahold as much as iPhone did either. Certainly not AR\VR; nobody wants that.

 

[Bandaman]

Seems a bit melodramatic.

 

[BF1M]

We'll have to disagree then. I stand by everything I say. Very few people had cell phones back then. A tinier fraction had smart phones. Watch that video to parody a time when almost no one had cell phones back in 1994. Not that many more people had cell phones either by 2006.

Well we can all have opinions of course but yours is like saying “The oceans weren’t massive back then” because you didn’t visit them often. It’s not a matter of interpretation, it’s either wrong or right. You are wrong.

 

[Michael Scrip]

My favorite part was when half the comments in this thread were arguing about who invented the smartphone.

🤣

Seriously though... it's good for Xiaomi to have goals. But I remember when Samsung sold the most smartphone units for like 8 years straight.

And did anybody care?

There's always gotta be someone in the #1 spot. I guess you can celebrate if it's you.

I think it would be wise to focus on software quality or other important things... instead of being "the biggest"

But what do I know...

 

[russell_314]

Didn’t say they had innovated either. We haven’t seen a true evolution of smartphones….well since the iPhone. Not sure we ever will see one that grabs ahold as much as iPhone did either. Certainly not AR\VR; nobody wants that.

Of course. It’s a glass rectangle with a touch screen and camera. Refinements happened but very little innovating.

 

[tobybrut]

Well we can all have opinions of course but yours is like saying “The oceans weren’t massive back then” because you didn’t visit them often. It’s not a matter of interpretation, it’s either wrong or right. You are wrong.

That is a terrible argument and a horrible comparison. Sorry, we're just getting into a "I'm right, you're wrong argument" which is rather pointless. I stand by what I said. 2007 created an explosion where smart phones became common. Before that point in time, it was a rarity. Prove me wrong beyond an "I saw a bunch, therefore you're wrong" argument.

 

[JippaLippa]

I'll gladly leave Xiaomi to the Android crowd...
Oh yes, I'm ready for the flame ????

 

[BF1M]

That is a terrible argument and a horrible comparison. Sorry, we're just getting into a "I'm right, you're wrong argument" which is rather pointless. I stand by what I said. 2007 created an explosion where smart phones became common. Before that point in time, it was a rarity. Prove me wrong beyond an "I saw a bunch, therefore you're wrong" argument.

Prove me wrong by beyond saying the same.

 

[JippaLippa]

When will Xiaomi learn that hardware is not everything.

Exactly!
This is what's so hard to explain to windows/android entusiasts.

"My phone has 12GB of ram for 400$ less than your iPhone, my Windows PC has a better GPU for quite less money"

100% sure, but It's all about the operative systems and the ecosystem.
As I often like to say, I'd take a Mac/iPhone with half the specs of a PC/Android Smartphone any day of the week.

 

[russell_314]

They’re practically an arm of the state, anyway

You think somehow the company that makes iPhones is different? Tim Cook puts an Apple logo on a Chinese made phone and all the anti China people are like oooh cool. I have lots of Apple products but I’m not going to pretend they’re made differently than Xiaomi or Huawei ?

 

[russell_314]

Exactly!
This is what's so hard to explain to windows/android entusiasts.

"My phone has 12GB of ram for 400$ less, my windows PC has a better CPU"

100% sure, but It's all about the operative systems and the ecosystem.
As I often like to say, I'd take a mac/iPhone with half the specs of a PC/Android Smartphone any day of the week.

Totally agree with you. It’s mostly about the OS and ecosystem

 

[Bandaman]

Seriously though... it's good for Xiaomi to have goals. But I remember when Samsung sold the most smartphone units for like 8 years straight.

And nobody cared.

There's always gotta be someone in the #1 spot. I guess you can celebrate if it's you.

Well with the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that Apple is funneling into China’s pocket, Apple now has 20%+ market share and growing in China, while Samsung has 1% since they pulled their manufacturing out of China. Apple is also moving 100% of their manufacturing out of Taiwan to build exclusively in China. Because of Apple’s CCP pandering the likes of which the world has never seen, I feel Apple is going to literally be impossible to compete with for the #1 spot soon.

 

[Konigi]

Another one who believes Apple is (just) a smartphone company.

iPhone is not the main reason I buy iPhones.

 

[JippaLippa]

Another one who believes Apple is (just) a smartphone company.

iPhone is not the reason I buy iPhones.

Also agreed!
And I'll tell you more!

It's pretty clear that most people who own an iPhone also own a mac, an iPad or an Apple Watch pf some kind, as the integration between them is so lovely and useful.
I have known quite a few people purchasing an Iphone for the status only, while not being tied to the ecosystem in any way and, predictably, they all switched back to Android eventually.

The Apple way goes well beyond the hardware itself, which is just a way to access the Apple Ecosystem.
Even my beloved macOS, if you really take a close look at it, is far from perfect, especially with the bug-infested latest versions.
However I find the whole apple ecosystem to be so good, and I gladly gloss over the glitches and bugs.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Well with the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that Apple is funneling into China’s pocket, Apple now has 20%+ market share and growing in China, while Samsung has 1% since they pulled their manufacturing out of China. Apple is also moving 100% of their manufacturing out of Taiwan to build exclusively in China. Because of Apple’s CCP pandering the likes of which the world has never seen, I feel Apple is going to literally be impossible to compete with for the #1 spot soon.

Oh wait... this article is about Xiaomi trying to become the #1 brand in China?

I admit that I just skimmed the article... but with references to the "global smartphone market" and the "world's biggest" in the headline... I thought Xiaomi was talking about worldwide.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Bandaman]

Oh wait... this is about Xiaomi is trying to become the #1 brand in China?

I admit that I just skimmed the article... but with references to the "global smartphone market" and the "world's biggest" in the headline... I though Xiaomi was talking about worldwide.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Being #1 in China is being #1 globally. They are an insanely massive market and Apple is making huge waves there. You are correct in that they want to be #1 globally. But being #1 in China is a very large part of that.

 

[PghMike4]

And all of your data will be going directly to the CCP. At least Apple makes the NSA work for it

 

[mollyc]

86% of people in the US had a cell phone in 2007. I would say that's most.

I remember cell towers going down on the East Coast on 9/11, and that was with 45% of people having a cell phone

Mobile wireless penetration rate in the U.S. 2001-2011| Statista

This statistic depicts the estimated mobile wireless penetration rate, based on Numbering Resource Utilization/Forecast (NRUF) estimates, in the U.S.

www.statista.com

 

[BF1M]

86% of people in the US had a cell phone in 2007. I would say that's most.

I remember cell towers going down on the East Coast on 9/11, and that was with 45% of people having a cell phone

Mobile wireless penetration rate in the U.S. 2001-2011| Statista

This statistic depicts the estimated mobile wireless penetration rate, based on Numbering Resource Utilization/Forecast (NRUF) estimates, in the U.S.

www.statista.com

RIM did 200 million in sales give or take in 2006. Nothing compared to Apple today but also not chump change.

It was a thing. Apple just made it a bigger thing.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Being #1 in China is being #1 globally.

"In the fourth quarter of 2021, Apple overtook Vivo to become the top smartphone brand in China for the first time in six years."

So right now Apple is #1 globally?

Cool!