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Xiaomi’s Great New Phone Is a Lot Like an iPhone. Apple Should Take Note


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Apple is unstoppable. It is the most valuable company ever, selling record numbers of devices around the world. But for the first time, I’ve held a phone in my hands that I think should give Apple pause. And here’s the funny thing: You can’t even get it here.

During a press event not long ago, where it introduced itself to US journalists, Chinese smartphone upstart Xiaomi gave away phones to the reporters in the crowd. Yes, the company’s flagship handset, the Mi Note, has been out for a few weeks. But holding one still felt like a big deal. When the phones went on sale in China last month, they reportedly sold out in three minutes. Here in the US, you can’t get a Mi Note or any other Xiaomi phone at all.

I’m an Apple user, though not out of any great devotion to the company. I use Apple stuff because it works for me. It does everything I need, when I need it, without the slightest trouble. But after a few weeks of playing with the Mi Note, I could easily ditch my iPhone for one. Not because it’s a big revelation, or anything radically different. Quite the opposite: I could switch because it doesn’t feel that different. And at half the price of a comparable iPhone, that similarity makes all the difference.

A Phone for the Rest of the World

This isn’t a review, because I’m not a gadget geek. Which is the point. I’m like most people with an iPhone. I like things that work, that make my life better, and when I find something that does both, I stick with it. As such, I’d argue that converting me is a bigger deal than getting some hardcore Apple partisan to switch. Presidential candidates don’t try to sway the other party’s base; it’s the swing voters who make all the difference. And like mushy moderates, my tech preferences are based more on the experience than the specs.

Of course, my preferences don’t matter in this brewing rivalry, at least not yet, since Xiaomi doesn’t sell its phones in the US. But even as Apple reported its best quarter yet in “greater China,” Xiaomi became China’s bestselling smartphone maker. And if Xiaomi can, in theory, anyway, get me on an Android phone, then it’s not so surprising that a larger share of the surging Chinese smartphone market—more than 420 million units shipped in 2014—is opting for Xiaomi instead of Apple.

I could switch because it doesn’t feel that different. And at half the price of an iPhone, that similarity makes all the difference.

Xiaomi’s answer to the iPhone 6 Plus feels very much like its rival. Its screen is a bit bigger. It’s a bit thinner, too, and weighs nearly a half-ounce less. The Mi Note’s screen is comparably gorgeous at an identical 1080p. It has a higher-resolution camera that takes beautiful pictures, and a slightly bigger battery. I was able to get all my favorite apps from Google Play. The hardware and software are smooth, snappy, and, above all, elegant, an advantage Apple has long had over most of its Android rivals.

And all this for $370 without a contract. I will say I missed Touch ID, but that’s exactly the kind of picayune feature geekery that will have little influence on which company dominates the market in China and India. Xiaomi sells its phones for so little because it’s decided it’s not a hardware company; instead, it likes to say it’s an Internet company, a maker of online services onto which the phones merely serve as windows. Because I was using the Mi Note in the US, I wasn’t able to do much with MiUI, the online platform that Xiaomi has leveraged to capture 100 million users so far.

But again, I’m not the one who matters to Xiaomi anyway. American consumers like myself look at MiUI and say, “that looks like iOS or Google or Amazon.” But for Chinese consumers, MiUI isn’t something that was designed for the US market and adapted to suit China. Xiaomi clearly has looked at the US market and said, “Apple’s got that locked down. Let’s build a phone for the rest of the world.” And the world has responded.

Future Fans

One more thing. The Mi Note is the first thing ever that has made my kid forget about the iPad. For anyone without children under 10, the iPad is to that age group as raw meat to a lion: Try to take it away and you might get bitten. That all changed when the Mi Note came home. When I finally thought to ask today, no one could even say where the iPad was, because I realized we had always relied on the kid to keep track. His quick adoption of what he calls “the Chinese phone” speaks to the ease of transition from iOS onto Xiaomi’s take on Android.

It also speaks to what should be Apple’s other great cause for concern. Yes, Xiaomi could fizzle out as quickly as it flared up if its gamble on internet services doesn’t make up for the money it’s not making selling handsets for so little. But if its business model works, it could well have landed in the US by the time my kid reaches the age where he is starting to buy his own devices. For his generation, Xiaomi could be as viable a choice as Apple.

Ironically, my experience with the Mi Note probably means one more sale for Apple. I still have a puny iPhone 5S, but I’ve become a big-screen convert thanks to the Mi Note. Because I can’t get one here, I’ll probably end up getting a 6 Plus.

http://www.wired.com/2015/02/xiaomis-great-new-phone-lot-like-iphone-apple-take-note/



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If Apple stopped making phones, these guys wouldn't know how to make a "new" phone.

All they know how to do is copy.

Ignore the whole Android vs. iOS debate (though Android was really a BlackBerry copy turned into an iOS copy at the last minute, no joke), these guys are copying Apple so hard, their CEO even wears the Steve Jobs turtleneck.

I expect to see iMics and MicBooks soon enough, right next to the Sonry and Macrosoft stuff, at the local flea market. I'll test them out on my way to buy a used Magnetbox.

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