As the company’s founder said this week, Xiaomi aims to scale up its competition with Apple (via South China Morning Post).
CEO Lei Jun said on Chinese social media site Weibo that Xiaomi intends to concentrate on the high-end smartphone market in order to directly compete with Apple, filling the hole created by Huawei’s exit from that market. Prior to withdrawing from U.S. market, Huawei had been China’s leading smartphone seller. According to Lei, Xiaomi aims to become the world’s biggest smartphone provider in the next three years.
China’s “largest high-end brand” in the next three years will be “completely benchmarked” against Apple in terms of quality and experience, according to Lei. On the high-end smartphone market, he called it a “battle of life and death” that Xiaomi must win.
also read: In China, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has set his eyes on Apple
It’s been six years since Apple surpassed Vivo as China’s top smartphone brand, but that will change in the fourth quarter of 2021. A staggering one in every five handsets sold is an iPhone, catapulting Apple to the top of the smartphone vendor rankings at the same time.
Over the last two years, supply chain concerns have hampered Xiaomi’s growth, much like many other firms. However, in the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi temporarily overtook Apple’s iPhone sales.
Other big Chinese Android smartphone makers are also pursuing Apple’s lucrative high-end category, but Xiaomi aims to differentiate itself by emphasising user experience. Over the next three years, the company plans to open 20,000 additional retail locations in China, bringing its total number of outlets in the nation to 10,000. Over the next five years, the business plans to spend over $16 billion on R&D.