Xiaomi founder Lei Jun vows to challenge Apple with sharpened focus on the global high-end smartphone market
- Lei Jun described competition in the high-end smartphone arena as ‘a war of life and death’, which Xiaomi must overcome to continue growing
- The stakes are high for Xiaomi after Apple once again became the world’s top smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter last year
Lei’s post, published the same day the Beijing-based company’s management had their first strategic meeting after the Lunar New Year break, described competition in the high-end smartphone arena as “a war of life and death”, which Xiaomi must overcome to continue growing. He also repeated the firm’s pledge to invest 100 billion yuan (US$15.71 billion) in research and development over the next five years to help achieve its ambitions.
In the second quarter last year, Xiaomi managed to become the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor for the first time, ranking ahead of Apple and just behind Samsung, according to data from Canalys. It said Xiaomi’s 17 per cent global market share that quarter was driven by increased smartphone shipments in South America, Africa and western Europe.
“For Xiaomi, the supply-side problems are relatively bigger than weaker demand [in China],” company president Wang Xiang said in a conference call with analysts in November. He indicated that the unstable supply of components makes it a challenge to plan production.
Apart from supply chain disruptions, Xiaomi faces a big challenge to attract more consumers by separating itself from the other major Chinese Android smartphone vendors, which are also targeting the same high-end handset segment, according to Will Wong, research manager with IDC’s Asia-Pacific client devices group in Singapore.
“Focusing on the consumer experience is the right way for Xiaomi to achieve that goal,” Wong said. “Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see whether Xiaomi could achieve [its ambitions] not only with its products, but also through its [online and offline] channels.”
But if the past quarter is any indicator, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo already have their work cut out for them in mainland China – the world’s largest smartphone market – where Apple recently achieved its highest ever domestic share at 23 per cent, according to data published by research firm Counterpoint in January.
Chinese smartphone growth back on track after pandemic slump
Apple surpassed Vivo in the fourth quarter to become China’s No 1 smartphone vendor after six years, according to Counterpoint. The last time Apple topped the market was during the peak of the iPhone 6 super cycle in 2015, months after its initial local release in October 2014.
“Apple rose to first place in China right after the iPhone 13 was released in September,” Counterpoint analyst Zhang Mengmeng said in a report.