Xiaomi is not the Apple, it is the Amazon of China: here is what it could bring on Sept 5

'Xiaomi is the Apple of China.' You may or may not heard this comparison before, but you definitely heard about the biggest news of the day - Google’s head of Android product management Hugo Barra will join the Chinese phone maker Xiaomi. Ironically enough, using this metaphor, we could say that Google's device head arrives to China's Apple. Does this combination mean we have a new huge global phone maker in the making? In reality, Xiaomi does not like the comparison with Apple, it sees itself more as the Amazon of China, a company selling devices only as tools for access to its ecosystem. And having a lot of affordable and popular devices is key.

Now is the right time to take a deeper look at what Xiaomi has in its pipeline, what brings the constant comparison with Apple, and why this could be the next big name in tech.

The $130 quad-core phone: Xiaomi 'Hongmi' Red Rice

Xiaomi’s latest big product is a smartphone called the Red Rice. The Xiaomi Red Rice is an extremely interesting device. A quad-core smartphone with a 4.7” 720 IPS display, based on MediaTek’s most powerful MT6589T chip, it delivers the performance of an upper-mid-range device at the price of a low-end phone, only $130 off contract.

If launched globally, the Xiaomi Red Rice would without a doubt achieve good (if not great) sales. It’s simply too good of a bang for the buck to ignore. It’s already making a splash in China, and is a good illustration of Xiaomi’s business model - devices sold at around their cost, aiming for maximum volume and sold to promote an ecosystem rather than make a profit on their own.

However, the device has one key flaw. Right now, it only features support for TD-SCDMA, the Chinese 3G standard. That means that it does not support 3G in other countries and is limited to snail slow 2G speeds. Right below, you'd find the official introductory video for the Xiaomi Red Rice.

All eyes on us: Xiaomi to announce something big on September 5th

It’s no coincidence that Hugo Barra's move to Xiaomi was announced just days before a huge upcoming event for the Chinese company. On September 5th, Xiaomi company will hold an event to announce a hugely important new product.

What would that be? We don't know, but we've heard speculation that the $130 Xiaomi Red Rice could get international 3G, and an ambitious plan to conquer other markets. A new flagship device could also be up in Xiaomi's sleeve. The company aims to boost sales to reach 15 million smartphones in 2013, a number that would put it among the biggest phone makers in the world. Xiaomi is already selling more than Apple in China, and its goal is to reach for maximum volume so it can push its ecosystem, as that's what really gives it a competitive edge.

We don't know whether it'd succeed, but it just managed to get all the attention of the world and nowadays this seems like half the success. Right below, you can see Xiaomi's chief executive explaining what the company really is all about.

Xiaomi: devices and MIUI

Xiaomi Red Rice

MIUI ROM

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+ 7 images

reference: Reuters

21 Comments

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posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:18 3

1. WHoyton1 (Posts: 1635; Member since: 21 Feb 2013)

i actually really like MIUI i may try the ROM

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:43

6. tiara6918 (Posts: 2110; Member since: 26 Apr 2012)

Miui is the android version of ios and I enjoy using it as a launcher. There are so many free choices on xiaomi's market and none of them bores me

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:50

9. weedl (Posts: 50; Member since: 05 Oct 2012)

and second it can to be rooted

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 06:56

11. Googler (Posts: 813; Member since: 10 Jun 2013)

I used to run MIUI with a custom launcher like Go or Nova in order to get the app drawer and other screen options. Overall it's a great ROM, very fast and polished.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:25 1

2. itsdeepak4u2000 (Posts: 3718; Member since: 03 Nov 2012)

Thick bezels?

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:39 3

3. aditya.k (Posts: 496; Member since: 10 Mar 2013)

Who cares? At this price anyone will buy this eyes closed! :)
Hope it comes to India very soon! :D

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:43

5. GamePlayer (Posts: 51; Member since: 06 Jun 2013)

And Pakistan too... :)

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 07:14 2

12. kach22 (Posts: 153; Member since: 04 Nov 2011)

Yes Bangladesh also.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 07:59

14. shandesilva (Posts: 79; Member since: 28 Mar 2012)

yeah...to sri lanka as well :)

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:42

4. GamePlayer (Posts: 51; Member since: 06 Jun 2013)

Xiaomi please come to Pakistan! We are just near you lol
I would love a 130$ quad core 720 p phone :/

I can't even afford a 200$ phone currently... >_<

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:46

7. weedl (Posts: 50; Member since: 05 Oct 2012)

is that all chinese app in the screen ? the're going to compete with other chinese maker like zte, huawei and lenovo . a quad core for $130 even lenovo a quadcore is $200.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 05:48

8. CX3NT3_713 (Posts: 2285; Member since: 18 Apr 2011)

Holy shyt!!! MIUI is awesome!!! I hope they sell us carrier ready, phones...some good specd ones...phablets :-D

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 06:34 1

10. _Bone_ (Posts: 2155; Member since: 29 Oct 2012)

Mark my words, Xiaomi is the next HTC (prime HTC that is, the most of you teenage boys don't know about).

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 10:36

15. TheLolGuy (Posts: 483; Member since: 05 Mar 2013)

Until people start buying the cheap hardware and flashing stock Android/other roms or even different OSes entirely.

When Xiaomi becomes very large -- and it will, users will just exploit the company for cheap hardware and use whatever they will via hacking methods. It's no guarantee their ecosystem and userbase will grow beyond a certain point.

An example would be Google and the fact that it had to pay off some ad-blocking companies just so it could maintain a healthy cash flow. I seriously don't get why people criticize Google for doing this. You want ad-free sites and also free services? This same consumer greed and lack/refusal of insight will also hurt Xiaomi in the long run as consumers will trample all over their plans to lock people into the ecosystem. I can't even count how many people flashed Android back on Kindles after buying them. It won't be long before they switch to low-margin hardware to protect themselves.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 07:16

13. roscuthiii (Posts: 2233; Member since: 18 Jul 2010)

MIUI, "Me You I"... and here I always thought the pronunciation was intended to be more like a "My UI". Learned something new today. Yay!

I wish Xaomi luck on the global stage, MIUI is a real nice custom ROM, but... I hope they choose their global distribution wisely. Or make some changes enough to curtail the iOS comparisons some. Apple may very well release the hell hounds, aka lawyers, on them. They may fly under the radar enough not to noticed by Apple depending on sales, however there are also some similarities to Windows Phone/Lumia. Microsoft/Nokia would definitely be in direct market share competition and also may very well litigate.
It's one thing to operate under the umbrella of the Chinese government, but venturing out from under it is a bit of a different matter.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 11:42

16. JMartin22 (Posts: 2008; Member since: 30 Apr 2013)

Since it's cheap Chinese phones, I will assume you get what you pay for at those prices. I doubt the screen panels will be properly calibrated for accurate viewing pleasure. The software and hardware will probably showcase some hiccups after a certain amount of time, I doubt the camera quality will be anything to write home about.

Last and not least, I personally think the designs of the phones are not just ugly, but also not intuitive with all that bezel.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 13:45

17. Jobayer (Posts: 167; Member since: 22 Feb 2013)

No man their phones r the best in china ,the esly the built quality! used one my self try checking out MI2s is epic .

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 13:50

18. Jobayer (Posts: 167; Member since: 22 Feb 2013)

Y do u think its called Apple of china , not because of sales or else it would have been called Sumsung of china . because of the product they create. The cameras in MI2s are better than the one in S4 d know about others because tests where done with s4 and Mi2s. The red rice used it my self are no short of quality .

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 14:13

19. bwhiting (Posts: 188; Member since: 15 Jun 2013)

I really want this phone to be brought to the US so I can actually have a good phone that makes use of the MIUI rom that is already built into the actual device.

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 18:14 1

20. weedl (Posts: 50; Member since: 05 Oct 2012)

just wondering are there gonna be PRISM- China version on this phone...because this is under china government..

posted on 29 Aug 2013, 19:49

21. Jobayer (Posts: 167; Member since: 22 Feb 2013)

As far as i know ,Huawei Technology Co Ltd (SHE:002502) and ZTE Corporation (SHE:000063) is aiding the Chinese government in conducting espionage, as PRISM proved.