Chinese technology manufacturer Xiaomi has reiterated its ambition to become Apple’s biggest rival, the South China Morning Post reports. The company’s founder Lei Jun has vowed to challenge Apple by focussing on the global premium smartphone market.
“[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 said in a post on Weibo last week.
Xiaomi plans to invest an astronomical 100 billion yuan (R239.3 billion) in research and development over the next five years as part of this drive. The company has been stepping into the big gap left by Huawei, which saw its smartphone sales decline in recent years.
This was primarily due to the US ban limiting its access to chips made using American intellectual property and cutting Huawei off from integrating Google apps and services on its new phones. Xiaomi’s budget and mid-range smartphones are its most popular options, offering significant value for money compared to other Android smartphones.
It now seeks to extend this popularity to its flagship range. In terms of photographic capability, Xiaomi punches with the heavyweights, with DxOMark giving the Mi 11 Ultra a score of 143.
That means its camera is ranked higher than the iPhone 13 Pro and is the best of any Android smartphone with Google Mobile Services. In December, it launched the Xiaomi 12 in China, which is expected to roll out globally in early 2022.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is also set to launch later this year.
In 2021, Xiaomi briefly overtook Apple as the second-biggest smartphone maker during the second quarter, according to data from research firm Canalys.
Between April 2021 and June 2021, Xiaomi accounted for 17% of the world’s smartphone shipments, compared to Apple’s 14% and Samsung, the world leader, at 19%.
According to Counterpoint Research, it was the number one manufacturer in June 2021. Over the course of the entire year, Xiaomi ended in third place.
In 2021, Apple managed to ship 230.1 million smartphones, while Xiaomi hit 191.2 million. The Chinese and American tech giants are still some way off from Samsung, which dominated with 274.5 million shipments.
Apple was buoyed by impressive sales figures in the last quarter of the year, driven by the release of the iPhone 13 series. But Xiaomi saw substantially bigger growth than any of the other top 5 smartphone makers.
Its sales increased 28%, compared to 11% for Apple and 7% for Samsung. Other Chinese heavyweights Oppo and Vivo also posted impressive double-digit growth of 22% and 15%, respectively.
Source: mybroadband
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