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Xiaomi Uses Official Apple Memoji Ads to Promote its 'Mimoji' Clone, Allegedly by Accident

Friday July 5, 2019 10:33 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Earlier this week, Xiaomi revealed a new digital avatar feature called "Mimoji," and the parallels to Apple's own Memoji feature were abundantly evident. Although Xiaomi sent out a press release refuting claims that it copied Apple, the company is in hot water again today for going so far as to use Apple's own ads on its website to promote Mimoji (via CX Live and Daring Fireball).


Discovered by a Weibo user earlier today, Xiaomi's product page for its upcoming Mi CC9 smartphone showcased the Apple Music Memoji ad that had Khalid's dancing avatar singing "Talk." These ads were found on e-commerce sites including JD.com and Suning, alongside Xiaomi's official Mimoji graphics.

According to Xiaomi's public relations general manager, Xu Jieyun, this was all an accident. Xiaomi staff "uploaded the wrong content" to the sites, Xu Jieyun said on Weibo.

Both Memoji and Mimoji are 3D avatars that the user can customize to make them look as similar - or dissimilar - to their own likeness as possible. Xiaomi's version includes similar art style to Apple's Memoji, as well as accessories and eyewear that all look just like Memoji.

Xiaomi has made a name for itself when it comes to copying Apple products and features. It launched the equivalent of Apple's Animojis on the Mi 8 smartphone in 2018; a device that strongly resembled the iPhone X. Earlier in 2019, it released a device that looked and functioned similarly to AirPods.

Tag: Xiaomi
[ 165 comments ]


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GrumpyMom
2 weeks ago

How do you spell stupid in Chinese?

Apparently "Xiaomi".
Rating: 43 Votes
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DcXiao
2 weeks ago
As a Chinese, I'm really embarrassed by all these Mimoji things...
Rating: 30 Votes
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macduke
2 weeks ago
Stop saying "allegedly". This is absolute proof that they copy Apple, full stop, end of story. There is nothing "alleged" about this.
Rating: 26 Votes
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Solomani
2 weeks ago
Samsung = Copycat 1.0 (beta)

Xiaomi = Copycat 2.0.2
Rating: 26 Votes
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jk1211
2 weeks ago
How does one "accidentally" have a downloaded copy of the commercial to accidentally upload it? All kinds of caught with hand in the cookie jar.

This is why every time I see an appealing Chinese phone I feel better about Apple as these Chinese companies go and do something shady and scammy like this; not even the Memoji ripoff part.
Rating: 22 Votes
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owen.meredith
2 weeks ago
Cheap China copy - what’s new!
Rating: 19 Votes
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BootsWalking
2 weeks ago
Reminds me of the McDowell's scene from Coming to America:

[MEDIA=youtube]djI_ret3S9g[/MEDIA]
Rating: 19 Votes
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triton100
2 weeks ago
Is there really no end to their blatant lazy desperate copy cat moves ? The word leech springs to mind as well as some other expletives.
Rating: 19 Votes
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centauratlas
2 weeks ago
"uploaded the wrong content"

- Which had to be downloaded and edited first. Yeah, it was an accident that they got caught.
Rating: 14 Votes
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PickUrPoison
2 weeks ago

Agreed. Seems people just like to be offended and all worked up these days.

Yeah, just your typical “morally bankrupt company stealing a competitor’s effective, expensive and well-produced marketing ads” situation. Nothing to see here, no big deal, happens all the time.

Wait....
Rating: 14 Votes

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