Chinese tech giant Xiaomi reasserts goal to compete against Apple’s iPhone, but downplays ambition to become world’s largest smartphone vendor

Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun said using Apple’s iPhone as a benchmark will enable the company to ‘catch up and beat it one day’

He indicated that aiming for the high-end segment of the smartphone market forces Xiaomi to seek breakthroughs in technology

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Lei Jun, Xiaomi Corp’s founder, chairman and chief executive, plays up the company’s efforts to compete against Apple’s iPhone in the high-end of the global smartphone market at a product launch in Beijing on August 14, 2023. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:30pm, 15 Aug 2023

Xiaomi Corp founder, chairman and chief executive Lei Jun on Monday said Apple’s iPhone remains the benchmark at the high-end of the global mobile phone market, as he downplayed the Chinese tech company’s previously stated goal of becoming the world’s largest smartphone vendor by 2024.

“Only by benchmarking with the iPhone can we stand a chance to catch up and beat it one day,” said Lei, who referred to Apple’s flagship device multiple times in his annual speech at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing where Xiaomi launched its latest products.

In his three-hour one-man show, 53-year-old Lei – with a net worth of US$10.2 billion as of August 15, according to Forbes – was cheered on by an audience of about 3,500, as he shared personal stories and reasserted Xiaomi’s commitment to go after Apple in the premium end of the smartphone market.

“Competition is extremely fierce in the consumer electronics industry,” he said. “Aiming for the high-end [of the smartphone market] forces us to seek breakthroughs in technology, while ensuring our future development and survival.”

Xiaomi Corp launched its latest foldable flagship smartphone series, the Mix Fold 3, on August 14, 2023. Photo: Handout

Apart from targeting Apple, Lei’s rhetoric reflects the company’s bid to compete more aggressively against rival Chinese vendors at home, the world’s largest smartphone market, where an uneven post-pandemic economic recovery has resulted in weak consumer spending.

While mainland China saw 65.7 million handsets ship in the quarter ended June 30, which was a smaller 2.1 per cent decrease compared to the 14.8 per cent drop in the same period last year, the market was dominated by Oppo, Vivo, former Huawei Technologies budget smartphone brand Honor and Apple, according to data from research firm IDC.

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