Overtaking Samsung & Apple: Xiaomi is the new Huawei (just don't get banned!)

2. Xiaomi - becoming the world’s biggest smartphone maker?

3. Final thoughts

Without a doubt, Huawei was probably the most progressive smartphone manufacturer for over two years in a row, between 2018-2020. The Huawei P20 Pro was the first big hit that put the Chinese tech giant on the map, at least as far as western markets are concerned.

I don’t need statistics to showcase that. I used to see people roaming around with this phone in their hands in some of the busiest cities in the UK, thinking to myself: “They (Huawei) have really done it!”.

For the readers outside the UK (and not only) - it’s truly a rare sight to see people on the street, metro, or the bus, carrying a phone different than an iPhone or Galaxy. Especially in big cities like London or Birmingham.

So, I simply couldn’t believe there were people who've spent so much money on a flagship phone that isn’t an iPhone or a Galaxy - it blew my mind. At the same time, I was very happy to see that Huawei’s extraordinary efforts had paid off. The company held events in a number of European capitals to announce its P20, Mate 20, and P30 series, and this had resulted in them being taken seriously by the enthusiasts.

When it comes to phones, there are two types of people - you either care, or you don’t. Assuming I did care, I recall sitting on the couch in Germany, back in March 2018 and watching Huawei unveil the P20 series. The camera system and especially the “Night Mode thing” left me in awe. I wasn’t a tech writer at the time, but I still realized that this was absolutely game-changing.

Then along came the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, which somehow managed to not only build on the success of the P20 series, but outshine every other phone on the market when it came to innovation.

It had the best camera system on any device, the best battery life amongst the flagships, a really attractive design, and some exclusive features like an UTS fingerprint reader, and reverse-wireless charging. In case you’re wondering - for example, iPhone users are patiently waiting for those to be implemented into the iPhone 14, which would be about four years late to the party, if it gets them at all.

That’s the kind of company Huawei was trying to be - it didn’t care. It didn’t care about planned obsolescence, and it didn’t care about “what are we going to do for our next phone if we throw everything we’ve got into this one”.

Unsurprisingly, Huawei’s next flagship, the P30 Pro also dominated. Now, it didn’t sell as well as the iPhones and Galaxies of the world - this would have required a bit more time, but it walked all over the competition when it came to taking photos, staying charged, and looking unique.

Unfortunately, we all know how the story goes from there on... Huawei was banned from doing business with US companies before the release of the Mate 30 Pro, which changed the company forever. Sales plummeted, people aren’t as interested in the phones as they were before, and Huawei had to develop its own Harmony OS in order to stay afloat.

Natural selection & Xiaomi taking on the role of Huawei

Well, the end of an era for one smartphone maker is another company’s new beginning! (I feel like this doesn’t sound as deep as I wish it did…)

Enter, Xiaomi…

Now, it’s not like Xiaomi was an unknown brand that wasn’t trying… In fact, it was actually trying hard. The Mi 9 and Mi 10 series of flagships were great devices. However, the company mostly specialized in mid-range and budget smartphones like the POCO and Redmi series. Those are the Xiaomi phones that sell best in Europe, for example. And for a reason! They are absolutely stellar devices with incredible hardware for anywhere between $250-500.

Eventually, the first phone that openly said: “We are here to play” was the Mi 10 Ultra. If you don’t know much about it, that’s because it never made it out of China. It was an extraordinary device (in fact, it still is), packing a record-breaking camera system, display, charging capabilities, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

It competed with other great devices like the Note 20 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max, but it openly tried to one-up them with:

• OLED screen with 1B colors
• The main camera sensor was 1/1.32-inches vs 1/1.33-inches on the Note 20 Ultra (I mean - come on!)
• 48MP periscope telephoto camera
• 120W wired charging (100% in 23 minutes)
• 50W wireless charging (100% in 40 minutes)
• 10W reverse-wireless-charging

Xiaomi was trying to do what Huawei did with the "P" and "Mate" series - leave Samsung and Apple behind, and bait people to fall for the latest and greatest technology. Could you blame them? I would have bought one if I could…

Then along came the Xiaomi Mi 11, which boasted arguably the best screen on any smartphone at the time (January 2021), and, of course, debuted the Snapdragon 888.

Unlike Huawei in 2020, Xiaomi’s relationship with Qualcomm is about as good as it gets. Not only Qualcomm chose Xiaomi’s Mi 11 for the Snapdragon 888 debut, but they also debuted the new mid-range Snapdragon 780G SoC on another Mi 11 device - the Mi 11 Lite 5G, and it is expected that the Snapdragon 895 will debut with the Mi 12 series in early 2022.

Although the Mi 11 was a stellar device which offered a ton of value for money, Xiaomi wasn’t done yet. The company announced the long-anticipated Mi 11 Pro & Mi 11 Ultra in late March. The Mi 11 Ultra is a bold device. I mean - it literally has a display on the back for taking selfies with the main 108 MP camera, or any of the four cameras, for that matter.

It has the second-biggest camera sensor on any phone, after the one on the Sharp Aquos R6 (Japan exclusive), and much faster charging than the Galaxies and iPhones out there.

The point is - Xiaomi is taking Huawei’s recipe to prepare its own dish. The ingredients? Mostly camera and charging, as well as a pinch of a bolder design move here and there. Not to mention that Xiaomi is the only serious Samsung competitor when it comes to foldable devices. Yes, the Huawei Mate X2 might be the best foldable phone on the market right now, but it doesn't run Google apps, and it's not widely available.