Recently, the central media published an article entitled "In the face of blockade and suppression, Chinese enterprises resist pressure and seek breakthroughs, pay close attention to Huawei's breakthrough", detailing Huawei's difficult process and innovative achievements under US sanctions, and praising Huawei as a representative of China's hardcore technology enterprises. The article also mentions several other technology companies, such as Xiaomi, BYD and CATL, as models for China's hardcore technology companies, encouraging Chinese technology companies to resolutely go overseas and open up the international market.
This article attracted the attention of Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Group, who forwarded this article on Weibo and expressed gratitude to the central media for their affirmation and support. At the same time, he also announced a major decision: Xiaomi's high-end mobile phones officially began to benchmark against Apple and "learn from Apple" in terms of product quality and specifications. He also revealed that the annual flagship Xiaomi Mi 12 will set up the regular version and the Pro version, benchmarking the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro Max respectively.
This news has sparked heated discussions among netizens, some people think that this is the embodiment of Xiaomi's self-confidence and ambition, and some people think that this is a manifestation of Xiaomi's self-determination and blind follow-up. So, does Xiaomi really have the ability and qualifications to compete head-to-head with Apple? Can Xiaomi's high-end mobile phones lead technological innovation? Let's take a look together.
As one of the largest smartphone brands in China, Xiaomi has always been known for its high cost performance, fast innovation and many users. However, in the high-end mobile phone market, Xiaomi has always been at a disadvantage and cannot be compared with competitors such as Apple and Huawei. According to market research institute Canalys, in the third quarter of 2021, in the smartphone market with more than $500 of Chinese mainland, Apple accounted for 45% of the share, Huawei accounted for 24%, and Xiaomi only had 8%.
There are many reasons for this situation, one of the important reasons is that Xiaomi lacks enough innovation and differentiation in high-end mobile phones. Although Xiaomi has also launched many high-end flagship models, such as Xiaomi 10 series, Xiaomi 11 series, etc., they have not brought many surprises and highlights to users in terms of hardware configuration, appearance design, and system experience. Instead, they are more about imitating or following the product features and styles of Apple or other brands. For example, in terms of screen, the Xiaomi 10 series adopts a curved screen design, but it is easy to be mistouched by users; In terms of photography, the Xiaomi Mi 11 series adopts a rear four-camera design, but it has been complained by users about poor picture quality; In terms of system, although Xiaomi's MIUI system is rich in functions, it is complained by users about more ads, more lag, and more power consumption.
Therefore, Xiaomi has been difficult to break the monopoly of Apple and Huawei in the high-end mobile phone market, and it is difficult to win the recognition and trust of users. This is a huge challenge for Xiaomi and an issue that urgently needs to break through. After all, the high-end mobile phone market not only represents brand image and technical strength, but also higher profits and more loyal users. If Xiaomi wants to make a difference in the field of scientific and technological innovation, it must make a difference in the high-end mobile phone market.
In order to make a breakthrough in the high-end mobile phone market, Xiaomi has taken a series of measures, including increasing investment in research and development, launching new systems and models, and announcing benchmarking against Apple. These measures aim to improve Xiaomi's product quality and specifications, enhance Xiaomi's innovation ability and competitiveness, and build Xiaomi's high-end brand image and user reputation.
First of all, Xiaomi has increased investment in research and development to ensure the ability and level of independent innovation. According to Lei Jun, Xiaomi's R&D investment this year is about 13 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of more than 30%, and the size of the engineer team exceeds 16,000 people. In the next five years, Xiaomi will invest 100 billion yuan in research and development expenses. These funds will be used to develop more core technologies, better product experience, and a wider range of application scenarios. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi should "not seek the fastest, but seek the best".
Secondly, Xiaomi has launched new systems and new models to demonstrate its technical strength and product advantages. Recently, Xiaomi officially announced the Xiaomi surging OS system, this new system will be officially launched with the Xiaomi 12 series, and will also become the world's first closed-loop operating system that can realize the interconnection of all things "people and cars". This is undoubtedly a challenge and transcendence of Apple's iOS system, and a new experience and surprise for users. At the same time, the Xiaomi 12 series will also become the third generation of Xiaomi's high-end mobile phones, with a number of black technologies such as full-focal ultra-clear images, Lingxi communication, ultra-reliable basalt architecture, second-generation Kunlun glass and satellite calls. These characteristics have made the Xiaomi 12 series have performance and quality comparable to or even surpass Apple's iPhone 13 series.
Finally, Xiaomi announced its decision to benchmark against Apple to express its confidence and ambition. Lei Jun said, "If we want to surpass the global technology giants, we have to come step by step. Our first step was to surpass in sales, and in the second step, we decided to take a clear stand in terms of products and experiences, officially propose to benchmark Apple, and surpass Apple step by step in the future. He added, "We want to be more than just following Apple, we are ahead of Apple in many ways." This statement is undoubtedly a strong challenge to Apple, and it is also a strong confidence and determination to users.
Result: Xiaomi's decisions and actions have aroused widespread attention and expectations from the market and users, as well as the vigilance and response of Apple and other competitors. It is reported that Apple has begun to accelerate its own research and development progress, preparing to launch iOS 16 system and iPhone 14 series to meet Xiaomi's challenge. At the same time, other domestic and foreign mobile phone brands, such as OPPO, vivo, Samsung, LG, etc., are also stepping up their own pace of innovation and trying to get a piece of the high-end mobile phone market.
It is foreseeable that the confrontation between Xiaomi and Apple will trigger a storm of scientific and technological innovation, and will also bring more choices and surprises to users. Whether Xiaomi can achieve its goal of surpassing Apple and becoming the leader of the high-end mobile phone market remains to be tested by time and the market. However, we believe that Xiaomi has enough strength and potential, and also has enough courage and confidence to pursue its dreams and ideals.
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