Xiaomi Plans to 'Catch Up and Beat' the iPhone Following Mix Fold 3 Announcement

Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun this week said that the company is using Apple's iPhone as a benchmark to "catch up and beat it one day" (via South China Morning Post).

xiaomi lei jun
During the announcement of its latest flagship foldable smartphone, the Mix Fold 3, Lei repeatedly compared the new device to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. He stopped short of mentioning Xiaomi's aim to become the world's biggest smartphone vendor, a goal he first mentioned in August 2021.

Lei often attempts to characterize Xiaomi as a major rival to Apple, but the company's $40 billion market capitalization pales in comparison to Apple's almost $3 trillion valuation. Nevertheless, in the second quarter of 2021, Apple's ‌iPhone‌ sales were briefly surpassed by Xiaomi for the first time.

Xiaomi is actively aiming to capture the global high-end smartphone segment. Last year, Lei described competition with Apple as "a war of life and death." Xiaomi reportedly intends to attract more customers by distinguishing itself from other major Chinese Android smartphone brands that are also targeting Apple's lucrative high-end segment by focusing on user experience, as well as filling the void left by the likes of Huawei.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 features an 8-inch AMOLED display, a 5x periscopic zoom camera, Leica optics, Qualcomm's second-generation Snapdragon processor, and 50W wireless charging. It starts at $1,240 and is currently available in China only.

Tag: Xiaomi

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Top Rated Comments

Born Again Avatar
17 months ago
Competition is great! Maybe Apple will be forced to keep their prices competitive. Anyone rooting against Xiaomi doesn’t understand the impacts long term to consumers.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
abatabia Avatar
17 months ago
Cute, but they won’t. They’re welcome to try.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
17 months ago
Any competition is good, regardless whether you like their products or not.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aratim Avatar
17 months ago
would rather buy this than xiaomi



Attachment Image
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NEPOBABY Avatar
17 months ago
Nah they'll end up even worse than Huawei.

Especially if it is found out they were flooding the global market with cheap subsidised phones that phone home to you know who.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lkrupp Avatar
17 months ago
They all want to be the next Steve Jobs. That ain't gonna happen.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)