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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.

Stop calling Xiaomi “the Apple of China” and here is why


As a Chinese person living and working in the western world, it is unlikely avoidable to hear people talking about, in a negative or positive way, how Chinese people can pretty much copy everything. Honestly, myself joke about how much lack of creativity we are while being unintentionally proud of the powerful capability of C2C (Copy-to-China) that Chinese people uniquely own: it is already amazing to copy something so well; and it’s even better that this thing can be tailored so well that it works perfectly in the local market. Xiaomi is such a brand well-known for starting its business by copying Apple but technologists really need to recognise that the brand has a bigger ambition, which leads its business into a different arena.

Try go on Xiaomi’s website. If you were not in China, you would probably be automatically directed to its global website where you can see six product categories: phone, tablet, TV, smart band, batteries and headphones, like every other normal hardware brand. Each of these products clearly embeds a simple aesthetic design just like Apple or any other trendy international brands.



If you googled Xiaomi, you probably would find bazillions of angry Apple fans shouting for copyright protection or simply complaining about Chinese people. But hey, hold on, check out Xiaomi’s Chinese website here.

What do you see!? It’s a much more complicated website with a much more diversified product portfolio and services! If you still consider Xiaomi as a tech plagiarist, you might be fooled by its past — Xiaomi has a bigger ambition and it has been working on this since the brand started making routers in 2013.

This year in January, Xiaomi launched its new product for home — Xiaomi Smart home family set which includes Xiaomi multi-functional gateway, body sensor, door/window sensor, and wireless switch. Users can supervise and monitor their home environment through Xiaomi’s smart phone application. When Wired or Business insider kept reporting on Xiaomi’s strategy which is to sell cheap smartphone to everyone. Despite the fact that this remains true, it is important to acknowledge that Xiaomi has already quietly built up its own business model with a future emphasis on Smart home technologies.

Xiaomi’s first so-called smart home product was a socket. The brand noticed an annoying fact that people’s tables nowadays are always messy because of cables and plugs. The brand was inspired from this and thus designed a socket to solve the problem. Nobody within Xiaomi’s design team has expected that this ameliorated version of a normal traditional hardware turned out to be extremely successful in China. Since then, Xiaomi developed and launched products like smart remote controller, water filter, air cleaner etc. Only till the end of last year, when the brand released a smart control centre, its appetite for competing in Smart home technologies was clearly revealed. Xiaomi was very careful in every step it made in this area. By now, besides the products mentioned above, Xiaomi’s home products also include body scales, bulbs, blood pressure monitor, stereos, lamps.

On top of continuously inventing and releasing new products that lie perfectly in line with Xiaomi’s eco-chain technologies, Xiaomi recognises its limit as a mobile phone device maker. Therefore, the brand entered into a partnership with a leading Chinese home electronic appliance brand Meidi to install its technologies through an intelligent module into traditional home electronic products. As a Chinese consumer, I can see myself or my families buy the idea.

I am a loyal iPhone owner. When Xiaomi started getting popular in China while me being abroad swallowing criticism on various Chinese copying behaviours, I was emotionally against this brand and thought this was another repetitive story where I had to defend my country for what it had to do in order to advance. However, Xiaomi’s story reminded me that the world, as well as myself, need to give a bit more patience or even forgiveness to a business with a less original start; and to a developing country with its own struggles and confusions.

The next time when I visit home, it’s time to get myself some Xiaomi smart home products.

(This article only represents my personal opinions. The pictures used here all belong to Xiaomi.)

Chen (Matty) CHANCE
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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Xiaomi May Take Samsung’s Crown

Xiaomi May Take Samsung’s Crown

when we think of premium Android devices, Samsung usually comes to mind but the Korean manufacturer is in danger of losing its crown to a Chinese newcomer, Xiaomi. According to OpenSignal’s Android Fragmentation Report, Samsung's share of the Android market has declined from 47 percent in 2012 to about 38 percent in 2015. Samsung has dominated the Android market by flooding new Galaxy phones and tablets every year providing customers a variety of specifications and options. This strategy worked initially but their lead has eroded as the market has doubled in size and less expensive devices with similar specifications have come to market. The most recent Samsung Galaxy S6 has taken its design directly from Apple, which is a good thing as Samsung received a lot of criticism over the last few years about the build quality and materials in its flagship Galaxy S line but by improving the chassis they have done away with all the features (micro SD card expansion, waterproofing, and removable battery) that differentiated the Samsung’s flagship from the iPhone. As it stands now, the S6 resembles an Android version of the iPhone 6.

Xiaomi’s ascension has been unprecedented since it’s launch in 2010. The Beijing based company is now China’s largest smartphone vendor. Xiaomi is currently valued at $46 Billion by the Wall Street Journal; Uber is the only startup valued higher. Xiaomi’s successful business model is fueled by releasing devices with class leading specifications at lower price points than competing Android devices. Xiaomi keeps it’s costs down by using word of mouth instead of costly marketing campaigns and only selling through online channels. In just over four years, Xiaomi’s has built a loyal customer base only rivaled by Apple and Google. Finally, Xiaomi’s stands out by the use of social media to allow customers to directly work with engineers on features and issues. This constant refining and updating differentiates Xiaomi from every other smartphone manufacturer. Aside from Google’s Nexus line, most Android devices rarely get update a year after purchase.

Xiaomi needs to build brand recognition as it enters the US market. Samsung’s recent stumbles in the smartphone sector have opened the door for Xiaomi’s entry. Currently, you cannot purchase a phone on the recently launched US Mi.com store. Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s VP of International, has publicly stated that infrastructure, certification, software, and other logistical challenges have kept devices like handsets and tablets from being brought to the US market. I suspect we’ll see Xiaomi’s Android smart phones and tablets for sale in the US by 2016.
Shahriar Farkhan
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