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China's Xiaomi staked its claim to Apple crown on Thursday
as the world's third-biggest smartphone maker and most
valuable tech start-up unveiled the flagship Mi Note, its
challenger to Apple's iPhone 6 Plus.


Chief Executive Lei Jun introduced the Mi Note in Beijing
with a breakdown of the large-screen phone's technical
features, with multiple comparisons to Apple's equivalent.
At 2299 yuan (NZ$474) for a model with 16 gigabytes of
memory, the Mi Note will retail for almost two-thirds less
than the iPhone 6 Plus.
Just three years after Xiaomi sold its first smartphone, a US
$1.1 billion round of fundraising announced in December
valued the firm at US$45 billion. The privately held
company has risen to become the world's No. 3 smartphone
maker and is challenging Apple and Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd as well as domestic rivals such as Huawei.
Xiaomi takes efforts to play down comparisons with
Cupertino, California-based Apple, though it is commonly
called the 'Apple of China'.
"The Mi Note is shorter, thinner and lighter than the iPhone,"
Lei told his audience of thousands gathered in the north of
China's capital.
Lei wore a light-blue shirt, eschewing his previously
favoured black top, jeans and sneakers, reminiscent of Apple
founder Steve Jobs' trademark black turtleneck and jeans.


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"Xiaomi is an innovative start-up company, with a short
history," said Lei. The company has been frequently
criticised for allegedly copying other tech companies, most
notably Apple. "In 10 years we will have tens of thousands
of patents."
Lei also laid out Xiaomi's strategy to connect its
smartphones with Xiaomi-branded home appliances,
allowing phone users to remotely control washing machines,
air purifiers and surveillance cameras.
"In five to 10 years all devices will become smart devices,"
he said. "If every smart device and every device at home can
be seamlessly connected to the cloud, what could our life be
like? It would be beautiful and easy."
Xiaomi weathered a decline in overall smartphone sales in
China last year to see revenue more than double to 74.3
billion yuan (US$11.99 billion) from 2013.
The company sold more than 61 million handsets in 2014, up
227 percent from a year earlier. In China, the world's biggest
smartphone market, overall sales fell 8 percent, according to
the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.


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Source: http://www.techpays..in/2015/01/xiaomi-challenges-iphone-6-plus.html?m=1