Xiaomi: beat Apple or die

« its a question of life or death “. Lei Jun, the founding boss of Xiaomi, does not use the metaphor lightly when he affirms his intention to make life difficult for Apple and to establish itself, in 3 years, as the world number 1 in high-end smartphones. .

In a blog post published in China and reported speak South China Morning PostLei Jun aims to “ measure up completely to Apple in terms of products and experience “. It also reiterates the objective, declared last August, of overtaking the best brands and imposing itself in the sale of the most sophisticated models on the market. At the same time, he expects to benefit from the disappointments of Huawei, which the American sanctions have caused to collapse in the rankings.

The Redmi Note 11 have flat edges like the latest iPhones

To achieve this, investment in R&D at Xiaomi over the next 5 years will not slow down and another axis of development to achieve this hegemony will go through the distribution network in its domestic market. In November, Xiaomi embarked on a plan to open 20,000 stores in China by 2024/2025. It may seem huge, but there are already 10,000 in the country, recalls the South China Morning Post (the brand has 6 stores in France).

The threat represented by Apple is not an image. At the end of the year, Apple regained the lead in China. It was the first time since the cardboard of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and after a few years that the following models have gradually lost their grip in the sales curves.

Also in China, during the year 2021, Xiaomi was lodged a breath behind Apple which occupied 3rd place following Oppo and the leader, Vivo. But in Q4, Apple swept the day with its iPhone 13s, far outpacing everyone and suffering less from supply issues.

iPhone sales rebound in China

In other markets, France for example, Xiaomi has already taken the lead. In 2021, it came between Samsung and Apple with 23% of the market share, the other two having taken 27% and 22% respectively. Above all, of the three, the Chinese manufacturer is the only one to have recorded annual growth, and a strong one.

Canalys: Xiaomi posts annual growth of 45% in 2021

–