Xiaomi launches new flagship smartphones, Apple comparisons abound

Surging Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi has unveiled a couple of new flagship smartphones – the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro. While the Note branding seems more geared towards competing with Samsung’s Galaxy Note family, the main comparisons have been made with the Apple iPhone 6 Plus.

This is thanks in part to the similar dimensions – both the new Xiaomi phones have 5.7-inch screens while the Plus has a 5.5-inch one – and partly because Xiaomi is rapidly catching Apple in terms of global smartphone market share. But a significant contributor to this impression has to be Xiaomi’s reasonably flagrant appropriation of Apple’s marketing style, such as the image below.

In spite of this Xiaomi frequently rejects comparisons with Apple, understandably preferring to be assessed on its own merits. There are, of course, plenty of differences, not least the average selling price of its phones, which is likely to be half that of Apple. Even the most expensive of the new phones – the Pro – still only sells for around $450 unsubsidised, despite the impressive spec list pictured below.

The new Notes are likely to sell in their millions in China, where almost all Xiaomi sales currently occur. For comparisons with Apple to really start to take on some resonance, however, Xiaomi need to convince US, Japanese and European punters to give its phones a try and maybe these phones will be the ones to kickstart its international expansion.