Xiaomi subsidiary company. Xiaomi: the rapid path to success
Not long ago, the first video from the series “Brand History” was released on our channel. Then it was about Huawei. Today we will learn about an equally famous company, Xiaomi. Let's find out where she started and how she went to success.
The biggest difficulty and controversy regarding the company was the correct pronunciation of its name. Many people pronounce the name differently, but the most correct option is Xiaomi, with the emphasis on the last syllable. But, taking into account the peculiarities of the Russian language and our pronunciation, pronunciation with an emphasis on the letter “O” is allowed. You can see more detailed arguments in favor of this or that pronunciation in the video above.
Having figured out how to pronounce the name correctly, you can talk about the history of the company. Xiaomi was registered on April 6, 2010. Its headquarters are located in Beijing, and a key role in the creation of the company was played by Lei Jun, who previously worked at Kingstone from 1992 to 2000, where, in the best tradition of such stories, he went from a simple engineer to the general director of the company . He has always shown an interest in startups and has made several successful attempts to create his own projects. Among them are the video service yy.com and the online store Vancl.com. Thanks to the success of these projects, Lei was already a billionaire by the time he founded Xiaomi.
At the time the company was founded, Google's operating system was not even two years old, which is why it had many flaws and was not stable. Therefore, to work on his own product, Lei Jun gathered the most promising or already established specialists in the field of electronics. These included representatives of local divisions of Google and Microsoft. All of them were fans of electronics and therefore could work with full dedication to the result, and their experience with Google and Android only increased the importance of these specialists.
On initial stage The company's investors included various Chinese and Singaporean venture capital funds, as well as a processor manufacturer.
On August 16, 2010, Xiaomi released the first version of its MIUI firmware on Android based. The name of the firmware consists of two parts “MI” and “UI”, where the first part, according to the creators, means Mobile Internet ( mobile internet) and Mission Impossible. The second means User Interface ( user interface). You can also come across a version of the origin of the name that finds a connection with the words “Me, You, I” and explains this coincidence as an attempt by Xiaomi to emphasize the friendliness of the firmware to the end user.
Firmware versions are divided into two types. Stable versions, which are released approximately once a month, and developer versions, released once a week. It is worth noting that Xiaomi manual never planned to tie the firmware to its devices, but was ready to give third-party manufacturers the opportunity to use it in their devices. Thus, the number of phones on which you can install different versions MIUI numbers in the hundreds.
Due to disagreement Google With the Chinese government, the company’s services are blocked in mainland China, but they work perfectly outside of it. Available to users Google Play, mail, maps and other company services. Global versions MIUI is certified by Google.
Less than a year later, in 2011, the company released the first smartphone under the Xiaomi brand. It was Xiaomi model MI1. The model was also known as Xiaomi Phone. It was equipped with a display from Sharp with a diagonal of 4 inches and a resolution of 854 by 480 pixels, a dual-core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 with a frequency of 1.5 GHz, Adreno 220 graphics, one gigabyte RAM, four gigabytes of internal memory and a 1930 mAh battery. The 8-megapixel camera of the smartphone could shoot video in FullHD at a frequency of 30 frames per second. The interface of the new product was reminiscent of iOS, which was impossible not to notice, but thanks to the fresh MIUI, based on Android 4.2, its functionality was higher. By the way, many people liked this similarity, but many actively criticized it.
The cost of the first Xiaomi smartphone was about $300. This was a fairly low price for its time, and it was achieved due to the lack of offline sales and savings on some minor things. For example, packaging materials. Also, the chosen sales method was very suitable for the current situation. The company collected pre-orders for smartphones and ordered production at the largest factories, without having its own production. The lack of in-house production allowed us to fully concentrate on development, and working on pre-orders made it possible to reduce the risk of not selling out the batch to zero. And these risks also had to be included in the price. Since there were none, the price could be safely reduced, because production and delivery had already been paid for by customers who had pre-ordered.
Largely due to the low price, the demand for the phone was high, but it was also similar to the iPhone, which was very popular in China at that time, and was much cheaper. And the fact that it is our own, native, Chinese, only spurred demand.
A year later, in August 2012, Xiaomi Mi2 was released. The phone ran Qualcomm's 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro, had 2GB of RAM and GPU Adreno 320. On September 24, 2013, Xiaomi announced that 10 million Xiaomi Mi2 have been sold over the past 11 months. Mi2 smartphones gained great popularity and were therefore sold by resellers in Australia, Europe, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. Official deliveries outside of China began a little later.
In 2013, Hugo Barra joined the company as vice president, having previously worked at Google for five years as a press officer for the Android division. He was forced to leave Google by a conflict with Sergei Brin, which arose after Hugo brought his girlfriend to work at the company, to whom Sergei began to pay too much attention.
The arrival of Hugo Barr in Xiaomi is associated rapid growth popularity of the company and expansion of the geography of its presence. However, looking ahead, I will say that in 2017 he will leave the company.
On September 5, 2013, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun announced plans to launch an Android Smart TV with a 47-inch 3D interface to be manufactured by Taiwan's Wistron Corporation. The company explained the choice of the manufacturer by the fact that he worked with Sony.
On the same day, the release of the Xiaomi Mi3 smartphone was announced. The new product was equipped with Snapdragon 800 with a frequency of 2.3 GHz, Adreno 330, 2 GB of RAM, 16 or 64 GB of internal memory and a 3050 mAh battery. A special pride of the new product is the 5-inch FullHD display. Sales began in October of the same year. Naturally, Mi3 became the company's best-selling model in 2013. The smartphone is a flagship device, and in the first three minutes from the start of sales, 200,000 units were sold. In total, 18.7 million Xiaomi smartphones were sold in 2013 and another 26.1 million at the beginning of 2014.
In 2014, Xiaomi announces plans to expand beyond China, and the first country chosen is Singapore. A division was created specifically for this purpose to control the launch of products and the company’s activities in the region. Smartphone sales started in early March 2014. Singapore was followed by Malaysia, the Philippines and India, with plans to expand to Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico.
On March 17, 2014, the RedMi Note phablet was introduced, which was known as HongMi Note in some regional markets. It was produced in two versions, the main differences of which were 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory for the first and exactly twice as much for each indicator for the second.
Other events in 2014 include the purchase of the mi.com domain for a record $3.6 million. And also that in November the company announced plans to invest about one billion dollars in creating its own television content.
According to market research agency IDC, in 2014 Xiaomi took third place in the ranking of the largest smartphone manufacturers, displacing Huawei, which I talked about in the last issue.
In 2015, Xiaomi announced that it would present its devices on two major sites e-commerce India, as well as in offline stores. For the first time in the company's history. On April 24, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and Vice President Hugo Barra announced Xiaomi Mi4i, which became the company's first smartphone that was supposed to go on sale in India before China. The Mi Band tracker was also announced.
On June 30, 2015, the company announces the start of local production of the RedMi 2 smartphone in Brazil. This marks the first time in its history that smartphones are not assembled in China or sold in Asia. In turn, this indicates the company’s big plans to expand the geography of its presence.
In 2016, more and more new smartphones from the company continue to be released, including Mi5, Mi5S and two new smartphones for the company. 6.4-inch Mi Max and frameless Mi Mix, which caused a lot of noise with its appearance. Doesn't even have a phone conversational dynamics, but works on the principle of bone conduction. But 91.3% of the front panel area is occupied by the screen, all of which is packaged in a fully ceramic case with excellent characteristics, among which we can note the Snapdragon 821, a 16-megapixel camera, a 6.4-inch display with a resolution of 2040 by 1080 pixels, and a 4400 mAh battery.
The more important thing is not whether the smartphone sells or not, but that it is the first product of its kind to reach the shelves. Let's see if other manufacturers pick up this idea.
It should be mentioned that the company produces not only smartphones. The list of devices in the Xiaomi range is much wider. Surely you know many of them, but there are also some that most of you have not even heard of.
Under the Xiaomi brand, action cameras, surveillance cameras, instruments, routers, headphones, lamps, blood pressure monitors, clothing, backpacks, wires, set-top boxes, hoverboards, laptops, tablets, external batteries, fitness trackers, air fresheners, and quadcopters come out of factories. And this is not a complete list of Xiaomi products. This is largely possible due to the company’s chosen approach to business. Not all of these products were developed by company specialists. Many are the result of co-production or collaboration, where Xiaomi puts its logo on another manufacturer's products and both benefit from it. Xiaomi receives a reward for helping with distribution and a bonus in the form of popularizing the brand through more frequent mentions, and its partners greatly increase sales, as buyers trust the promoted brand.
The company basically started from scratch, but now its income is $20 billion, and Lei Jun, according to Forbes magazine, ranks 23rd in the ranking of the richest people in the world. The company employs about 8,000 people. Mainly in mainland China, Malaysia, India and Singapore.
This is where the story about the history of Xiaomi has come to an end, but the story was not very long yet. A lot more interesting things await you ahead, including the answer to the question of how, having constant problems, still find money to produce and sell phones that are very inexpensive for their characteristics.
Everyone has heard about Xiaomi today modern man, at least somewhat interested in technological innovations. The Western world is familiar with Xiaomi mainly through its smartphones, but in Asia (mainly China) this company is known as a manufacturer of a huge variety of products. Today we will try to bring more clarity to this issue and talk about all the current areas of Xiaomi’s business.
Origin
First, a little history. Xiaomi is a relatively young brand, it was founded in April 2010. The origins of the company were:
- Lei Jun is a businessman, programmer and the main founder of Xiaomi, who previously worked for many American IT giants in various positions;
- Bin Lin, the current president of the company, was initially involved in localizing products for the Chinese market
- Liu De – Head of Industrial Design Department
- Li Wanqiang – software and official website designer, now heads the e-commerce department;
- Guangping Zhou – director of the smartphone division;
- Wong Jianzi - responsible for the production of routers and operation cloud service Mi Cloud;
- Feng Hong, the head of the department developing the proprietary MIUI firmware, previously worked at Google for many years in senior positions;
- Chuan Wang is the development director of Mi TV and Mi Box.
During the first 3 months from its inception, Xiaomi was searching for sources of funding and developing MIUI: at that time, alternative software for Android was the main and only direction of the company's work.
Since Xiaomi did not have its own smartphones at that time, the system was intended for devices from other manufacturers, the first being the Nexus One under Android control 2.2 Froyo. MIUI 0.8 was distributed in open beta test format. Six months later, the second version was released, changes in it concerned the visual design, but not functionality. After another iteration of MIUI, when a user base of 500,000 people was recruited, smartphone production was launched, and on August 16, 2011, Xiaomi Mi 1, also known as Xiaomi Phone and Mi-One, was announced at a special event. The main advantage of the device was the battery capacity, which was 1.5-2 times larger than that of its competitors (1930 mAh versus 1400-1500 mAh for most devices of that time). The rest of the characteristics were no worse, and at the rate of “30 rubles. for 1$” the price tag of 310 dollars for a flagship smartphone turned into 10,000 rubles for Russian buyers.
In January 2012, Xiaomi Mi 2 was released, breaking all sales records: the first batch of 50,000 copies was sold out in just 3 minutes! In April of the same year, a presentation of two modifications of Mi 2 took place - the more affordable Mi 2A and the more powerful Mi 2S; in 9 months, these three models sold 10 million units, finally consolidating Xiaomi’s success in the mobile market. The next important step was the announcement of a 47-inch TV in September 2013 and the appointment of former Google employee Hugo Barr as vice president. It was he who was the official representative of the company and presented new devices.
In subsequent years, Xiaomi expanded its product line (for example, laptops, tablets and electric bicycles appeared among the most significant ones), improved already mastered technologies and entered new markets - by the way, in 2016 the first Xiaomi store in Russia was opened.
Incredible range of products
So, let's return to the main question of this article - what exactly does Xiaomi produce, and what products are the most interesting for the average buyer?
The computer accessories market is oversaturated with noname companies selling outright junk. Fortunately, this does not concern Xiaomi. Its range includes wireless mouse Xiaomi Portable Mouse. The device has a minimalist design, connects to a PC via Bluetooth 4.1 or Wi-Fi, can work with two synchronized devices at once and costs 1,500 rubles.
In addition to the mouse, the Chinese portfolio includes the Mi Keyboard White keyboard. Its design uses large number aluminum due to which the device weighs as much as 940 grams. This adds stability to the keyboard and gives the impression of a reliable device that will last for many years. The key markings are applied with high-quality paint that will not be erased even with the most active gaming or typing. Mi Keyboard White does not require any drivers to connect to a computer.
Household supplies
At the start of sales in 2015, these smart scales cost only $15, which allowed them to become mega-popular. For this amount the scales could be connected to mobile application MiFit on a smartphone, display weight on a built-in backlit display and were made of quality materials (glass and polycarbonate). In domestic stores, Smart Scales cost 1,800 rubles due to expensive delivery due to high weight and size parameters.
Surely many of you have heard about the Mi Notebook series, designed to compete with the Apple MacBook. Chinese laptops have similar names: Pro and Air, but they are several times cheaper - while the products of an American company ask for at least several thousand dollars for the younger models, the cost of the top-end metal Mi Notebook Pro 15.6 barely exceeds $1000.
TVs
One of the main areas of the company's business is television. In addition to its own online services for the local television market, Xiaomi is known for its affordable, high-quality LCD panels.
Mi TV
This is a line of the most budget 4K TVs, distinguished by excellent equipment: it has a 55-, 60- or 70-inch matrix with a resolution of 3840 × 2160, a viewing angle of 178 o and a response time of 7 ms. Due to the unstable ruble exchange rate, prices change all the time, but on foreign trading platforms the cost of a basic 55-inch model does not reach $900.
Photo and video equipment
In 2014, Xiaomi entered a new market for filming equipment by founding its subsidiary Yi. Since then, several quite interesting devices with excellent price/quality ratio.
This model was Xiaomi's first attempt to create a professional camera. Yi-M1 received a 20-megapixel matrix, 3” touch screen and the ability to change lenses. The cost of the device is noticeably lower than that of competitors with similar characteristics - 34 thousand rubles, including the lens.
The company has achieved its greatest success as a manufacturer of filming equipment in the action camera market. The Mijia and Mi Action Camera 4K series have become bestsellers thanks to excellent quality assembly and, as always, affordable price tags.
Xiaomi decided to take a risk and thoroughly tackle the still rare cameras for virtual reality. The Chinese presented both a small amateur VR camera, the Yi 360, and a professional solution, the huge HALO 360 VR, weighing 3.5 kg and costing more than one and a half million rubles.
Tablets
Along with smartphones, the company's main business is tablets, or rather the Mi Pad line, which recently expanded to its fourth generation. Traditionally for Xiaomi, its tablets stand out from competitors due to their flagship characteristics and price budget models from AAA brands. Thus, the fresh Mi Pad 4 is equipped with a FullHD screen, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB storage and eight-core processor from Qualcomm, while the cost of the device in China is $170.
Xiaomi is a leading manufacturer of electric bicycles, unicycles, Segways, electric scooters, hoverboards, and also produces a huge variety of accessories for customizing all these vehicles.
Made in China
These were all high-tech devices that any geek knows about. Let's take a look at Xiaomi products that are common in China, but practically unknown in the rest of the world. Of course, most of these things can be connected to a smartphone to control and display certain information.
Xiaomi releases water filters...
...and testers for checking the purity of drinking water
The company's portfolio includes smart Yeelight lamps; color and brightness can be adjusted through the application
Xiaomi will help protect your home with this infrared security camera. It records in 720p, has 4x zoom, connects to your mobile device via Wi-Fi and is controlled via an app
There are Xiaomi children's toys, mainly various construction sets and robots controlled from a smartphone
The company has a whole range of practical backpacks in its arsenal, differing only in design (however, they have the same color - black) and size
Xiaomi even produces various useful little things: for example, this Mi Portable Keychain with a figurine of the company symbol - the Mi Bunny rabbit
One of the few Xiaomi products without smart functions is regular cookware. You can furnish your kitchen with frying pans, glasses, mugs, pots, cutting boards, spoons, forks and other cutlery from your favorite company
Oddly enough, Xiaomi suitcases have no additional functionality, they are simply high-quality polycarbonate products for transporting luggage
One line
It’s impossible to talk about everything that the ubiquitous Xiaomi produces in one article, but if you don’t consider each product separately, we can say that in addition to everything described above, this Chinese company produces stationery, accessories for smartphones, wallets, clothes, soft toys, systems smart home, routers, carpentry tools, bed linen, thermometers, power banks, fitness bracelets and is involved in the development of real electric vehicles.
Each company presenting its products on the market has a wave-like history. That is, if you build a graph, you can see her ups and downs; she may be on the verge of failure or not leave the top of the pedestal for years. The brand in question was able to reach unprecedented heights in a matter of years. In 2010, the world learned about Xiaomi!
About the CEO of Xiaomi
The company's key figure, CEO Lei Zun, previously worked for Kingston for eight years. Here the man reached professional heights - he went from an ordinary engineer to the president of an enterprise. Thanks to his activities at Kingston, the future director of Xiaomi gained experience. Zun was always interested in new technologies and actively invested in startups that he thought were interesting. Thanks to this, he was included in the list of millionaires much earlier than “Grain of Rice” appeared (this is how Xiaomi is translated into Russian). In April 2010, Lei Zun and seven other technology innovation enthusiasts registered a company called Xiaomi Tech.
The era of Xiaomi technology
In the year the company was founded, a new shell of the MIUI operating system was released, which turned out to be quite understandable and attractive to the consumer. Its main advantage is stability and trouble-free functionality.
The originality of Xiaomi lies in the fact that its first creation was not a mobile device, but an operating system for it. First Xiaomi phone Mi One will be in the hands of users a year after the creation of the OS. In August, an affordable and productive device running on the Android OS with the MIUI shell from the Xiaomi brand was presented to the general public. Moreover, used in the next smartphone is powerful Snapdragon processor S4, Adreno 320 graphics and a decent amount of memory at 2 GB outshone many others mobile devices presented on the market.
Xiaomi company was able to achieve stunning success in a short period of time. Today, users have the opportunity to use high-performance, yet affordable devices. Thanks to Xiaomi products, the myth that products made in China have low quality, was dispelled!
The company's first smartphones became the hallmark of the young enterprise, which was able to become a competitive player in the global market, causing such giant corporations as Apple and Samsung to worry.
The Xiaomi Mi3 smartphone has a 5-inch display with Full HD resolution, great camera in 13MP, powerful processor, decent design at a price of $300 dollars made the end buyer move away from the usual brands and look at Xiaomi products as an excellent replacement for expensive gadgets.
Having felt success, Lei Jiong and his team of specialists continue to work on new devices. After the next smartphone Mi4 was released, in 2014 the world saw the first tablet from a Chinese manufacturer.
While critics are blaming the brand for plagiarism and using Apple's design ideas, a little less than 40 seconds after the start of mobile sales Xiaomi devices Mi4 is over, because high performance, attractive design, excellent quality screen were offered for very little money.
The secret of success of Xiaomi products
It is not easy to understand how a young Chinese company, after several years of active activity, was able to bypass the Korean company Samsung and become a worthy competitor to the manufacturer of Apple products. But in reality, “A Grain of Rice” did not come up with brilliant plans to “shove competitors into the bosom.”
The company's successful development strategy is as follows:
Affordable price. The manufacturer does not rely only on selling equipment. Our own application store, sale of accessories, etc. are used as sources of profit;
Availability. The manufacturer always works for its consumers, and the most devoted fans have the opportunity to become owners of new products first;
Competent PR management. Xiaomi products today there is no need for special PR; the user performs this function for her, posting information in numerous social networks and blogs;
High quality. The best materials and components are used to produce equipment, which makes smartphones, tablets and other products durable;
Control. The equipment is subject to careful control at the production stage. Therefore, practically no defective devices reach the market;
Regular technical support. Each of the company's devices receives timely updates firmware, which is a mandatory requirement of the modern buyer.
Oppo, Vivo, not just a lot, but a lot. Manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom played out in earnest, setting up powerful competition on the world market. They outshine the products of more famous ones due to their low price brands, but many are still distrustful of the Made in China label. It doesn’t matter to dispel (or confirm) the doubts of those who have not yet bought a phone from Chinese brands - Xiaomi or someone else - in this article. We will talk specifically about the above-mentioned company, although much of what has been said (for example, reviews) can be applied to other manufacturers from China.
Xiaomi - how to pronounce it correctly?
Many who come across the company's products for the first time, or read about them in the news, do not know how to pronounce Xiaomi correctly. Well, it’s unusual for a Russian person to see this x (which has no analogue in our alphabet at all), and even in the company of three vowels in a row - and nothing can be done. Therefore, a small educational program is needed on how to correctly pronounce Xiaomi and read this name.
Chinese differs from Russian, primarily in that each hieroglyph does not mean a separate sound, but a whole syllable or short word. For example, Xiaomi in the original is written as 小米. The first character means “small” and, in combination with a noun, indicates the size of the object, age, or origin (猫 - cat, 小猫 - kitten, as in “little cat”, “cat cub”). The hieroglyph 米 is translated as “rice”, and the combination 小米 means “small rice”, “rice seed”, in artistic translation - “rice grain”.
To transmit characters using the Latin alphabet, China has adopted the Pinyin standard. According to it, 小 is written as xiao, and 米 as mi. To transliterate pinyin into the Cyrillic alphabet, in the 19th century the Russian priest Fr. Palladius, who preached Christianity in China, came up with a transliteration system that is named after him. Linguists still use this standard. According to him, Xiao in Cyrillic is written as Xiao, and Mi as Mi. That is, Correctly write Xiaomi in Russian - Xiaomi(all kinds of Xiomi, Xiaomi, Jiaomi, Xaomi, Tsaomi, Haomi, Hyaomi, etc. - an error).
As for how to correctly pronounce Xiaomi, it’s a little more complicated. The Chinese language is not Russian, differing only in the dialects of Kuban, the Volga region, the Moscow region, and Siberia, where individual vowels may be pronounced slightly differently. A Russian will understand a Bulgarian or a Pole faster than a Chinese from the southeast will understand a Chinese from the north of the Celestial Empire. Therefore, the pronunciation of the characters 小米 varies from almost pure [s'aomi] - to [sh'aomi] or even [shyaomi]. You can pronounce it according to the principle “how it is heard is how it is written,” but you can try to imitate the Chinese.
Xiaomi - brand history
Xiaomi is a brand of the company 小米科技 (Xiaomi Keji), founded in 2010. Its origins were the Chinese IT specialist and entrepreneur Lei Jun, who together with his partners opened new business. Initially, the company began developing the MIUI operating system, a modification of Android aimed at creating an infrastructure similar to Apple. A year and a half later, in the fall of 2011, the company released its first Xiaomi smartphone Mi1, which received warm reviews from the Chinese. A year later, its successor Mi2 was introduced, which was bought by more than 11 million people in a year (10 times more than the first iPhone, the same as the iPhone 3G in history). In addition to sales, with Apple company Another similarity is the fact that Xiaomi products are assembled by the same Foxconn.
In 2013, Xiaomi introduced the Mi3 model and also announced its entry into the market of televisions and other devices. At the same time, the company’s strategy was announced, designed to ensure its high competitiveness. It is based on savings on associated costs (for example, Xiaomi does not have a large retail network of stores, like Apple or Samsung), a minimum markup (selling handsets almost at cost) and earnings on ancillary services (like space in cloud storage). Thus, Xiaomi, whose brand has become famous outside of China, ensured rapid growth in sales.
In 2014, a budget series was launched Redmi smartphones, which significantly expanded the company’s audience. If flagship smartphones Mi is “the same as others, but much cheaper,” while the Redmi line is “for the same money, but much better.” If the conventional Xiaomi Mi5 has the same capabilities as the HTC 10 or iPhone 6s, then something like the Redmi Note 3 is a device at a budget price, but with solid middle-class characteristics. Thanks to the release of the second and third generations of Redmi in 2015-2016, sales of devices in the series exceeded 100 million units in the summer of 2016. This is more than LG and HTC combined over the same period.
In addition to smartphones, at the moment the company produces tablets, laptops, TVs, headphones, portable batteries, fitness trackers, routers, rice cookers, cameras, acoustics, bicycles and other equipment. Xiaomi has very serious ambitions; the head has repeatedly stated plans to become the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer in the world. Soon the question: “Xiaomi - what kind of brand?” may disappear on its own, just as people don’t ask this about Samsung or Apple now.
Reviews of smartphones about Xiaomi
Like any other phone from Chinese brands, Xiaomi reviews They collect quite ambiguous ones. On the one hand, there is a temptingly low price, and on the other, there is distrust in Chinese brands, fueled by periodic reports of incorrect operation Xiaomi devices. To summarize, we can identify aspects for which the company’s products are praised, as well as nuances that are criticized.
Advantages of Xiaomi
Xiaomi receives positive reviews mainly for its combination of price and performance. But there are other points for which the manufacturer can be praised.
Price
The price of Xiaomi smartphones is why the Xiaomi brand receives only positive reviews. The cost of the devices is very competitive even against the backdrop of numerous Chinese competitors. You can highlight Meizu, Huawei, ZTE, Oppo, Vivo and others that make similar products for comparison. Then it becomes clear that at the same cost, Xiaomi strives to at least slightly surpass its rivals in terms of hardware. And sometimes even the products from the named companies turn out to be noticeably more expensive, with equal characteristics. Xiaomi's strategy in this regard gives the company an undeniable advantage.
Characteristics
Xioami tries not to compromise when creating their devices. If this is a flagship, then it should have a flagship processor, the fastest one available on the market (like the Snapdragon 821 in the new Mi5S). If this is a Redmi series device, it should have a flagship MediaTek chip or a balanced mid-range chip from Qualcomm (comparable in capabilities). No “cut-down” budget employees to ensure greater autonomy at the expense of performance. Much attention is also paid to build quality; in this regard, budget phones are not much inferior to flagships.
Native OS
Any system can be criticized for objective shortcomings, but to be a MIUI hater (as well as to hate Apple technology) can only be done by someone who has not used it for a long time (at least a couple of weeks or a month). The MIUI OS is a little unusual, but its interface is more attractive than the “naked” Android, the settings menu has been expanded and improved, working with customizing the interface (themes, shortcuts, screensavers) will not cause difficulties even for a person far from the world of IT / Many functions, such as fingerprint scanner support, memory clearing in the multitasking menu, advanced security settings appear in MIUI earlier than in original Android.
Russian language, Google services“out of the box” - all this is already in MIUI, no “shamanism” is needed to localize the interface and install PlayMarket. In addition, the developers please with operational updates, which are released from once a week to once a month. Not as fast as Apple (which, if a bug is identified, can release an update the very next day), but users do not have to enable “Hachiko mode”, like owners Chinese smartphones lesser known brands. If earlier one could criticize Xiaomi for the slowness of updating the OS version, now they have accelerated. Most current devices have already received MIUI 8 on Android kernel 6, active development of MIUI 9 with Android 7 inside.