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Xiaomi Arrives As Top Smartphone Seller In China 82

New submitter redseo writes Xiaomi, known as the Apple of China, and recently enjoying its new-found fame and glory in the Indian market, has achieved yet another milestone. It has overtaken Samsung, to become China's best selling smartphone manufacturer, in Q2 2014. Xiaomi sold total of 15 million smartphones in China in Q2, which is a three-fold increase from a year ago. That's pretty good for a company founded only four years ago, with no stores of its own. (And though Xiaomi's phones are not widely sold in the U.S., they're offered by third-party sellers on Amazon and elsewhere; CNet has mostly good things to say about the company's Mi 3.)
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Xiaomi Arrives As Top Smartphone Seller In China

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  • Maybe they'll get some retail room for US carriers too. Doesn't matter what country you pick you're going to be spied on, might as well get the devices on the cheap while your privacy is being invaded.

    • Re:Good for them (Score:4, Interesting)

      by CanHasDIY ( 1672858 ) on Wednesday August 06, 2014 @03:52PM (#47616621) Homepage Journal

      Doesn't matter what country you pick you're going to be spied on,

      This is likely true, although there is likely merit to being spied on by a foreign government.

      Namely, as a US citizen, I don't have to worry about the Chinese government taking my freedom away because I did/said something they don't like.

      • Who has the US government incarcerated for nothing besides "saying something they don't like"?

        • Re:Good for them (Score:4, Informative)

          by CanHasDIY ( 1672858 ) on Wednesday August 06, 2014 @05:15PM (#47617331) Homepage Journal

          Chelsea Manning, Leonard Peltier, The Cuban 5, likely at least a handful of Gitmo inmates, and of course all those Occupiers who didn't actually commit crimes.

          Oh, and every pothead in jail, ever (although in fairness, they're incarcerated for doing something harmless the government doesn't like, as opposed to saying stuff).

          Aaron Swartz would be there too, if not for... extenuating circumstances.

          Surely you don't believe that there's no such thing as a political prisoner in the for-profit prison industry, do you? If so, that tells me that you don't know enough about the topic to be commenting from a position of knowledge, but rather one of ignorance.

          • I knew you were going to mention Manning.

            Because apparently "doing things I agree with" is a valid legal defense in your warped little brain.

            • Interesting, as I knew you were going to cherry pick that particular one of the many valid examples I gave.

              However, you're welcome to your opinion, as I am welcome to the opinion that you should take your playground bullying and go fuck yourself.

              • OK. Aaron Swartz. You think he was prosecuted for his opinions and not for breaking and entering? Because he's on video breaking and entering.

                • Yea, the feds were going to crucify him for a petty B&E, not for disseminating information they didn't want disseminated.

                  Because that makes sense.

    • Re:Good for them (Score:4, Informative)

      by arglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 ) on Thursday August 07, 2014 @02:38AM (#47620549)

      Doesn't matter what country you pick you're going to be spied on

      With the Xiaomi this is especially the case, it sends a pile of private information [f-secure.com] on you back to Beijing, China [theepochtimes.com]. So it's not just the generic spooks, it's also the manufacturer who's spying on you.

  • Yeah yeah (Score:2, Interesting)

    by s.petry ( 762400 )

    For decades the best selling car in China was made by a Chines company, but strangely looked exactly like a Buick which was being manufactured in China by GM.

    Telling me that the best selling product is a home grown product in a controlled economy is useless, sorry.

    Then the hype is spread to India, which has massive amounts of poverty. If the Chinese made phone is cheap, guess what phone Indian consumers will purchase (considering many people can't afford a phone at all, let alone a cell phone)? No big sho

    • Wait, which "best selling car" in China are you talking about? Because Buick has consistently been one of the best (if not the best) selling car manufacturers in China since before WWII.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Chery is the largest Chinese auto exporter, & GM has accused them of ripping off their designs.

    • Well, I can believe in Xiaomi winning on quality. Their phones are quite powerful, yet reasonably priced. I have a coworker who swears by the brand and from what I've seen I definitely like his Mi2 better than my Galaxy S3. Are they the alpha and omega of phone development? Definitely not. But they certainly are a welcome addition to the high-end smartphone market.

      Well, they're better than Samsung, which admittedly isn't terribly difficult.
      • by s.petry ( 762400 )
        Compared to what? Banned products, or products that the Chines government limits to ensure that Chinese companies are profitable? China is not a free market, so any claim that something is a number one seller is obviously skewed.
        • Re:Yeah yeah (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Sonny Yatsen ( 603655 ) * on Wednesday August 06, 2014 @04:58PM (#47617179) Journal

          China might not be a technically a "free market," but if there's any bit of electronics you want to buy there, it's available for sale even if it is officially banned.

          Video game consoles in China have been officially banned since 2001. Guess what I see when I go to the mall in China? Xbox 360s, Playstation 3s, Wiis. I've been told that even next gen consoles like the PS4 has made it to storefronts in China before the official launch date (through gray market means via Hong Kong).

          At a macro level, China is not a "free market" but rather a managed economy. At the micro level, though, everything is for sale.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Compared to what? Banned products, or products that the Chines government limits to ensure that Chinese companies are profitable?

          I have the Redmi Note, bought via Singapore, and it's easily the best phone I have used (my job means I get a lot of phones so at hand I have iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia 625, a couple of Blackberries, and a few assorted other Androids).

          The thing is, on specs alone it's a decent phone - the 1.7GHz octacore CPU isn't the absolute fastest in the world, but it's more than capable of running anything currently available on Android very smoothly and without hesitation. 2GB RAM means multitasking is no probl

    • by Duhavid ( 677874 )

      Removing incorrect moderation

  • And pretty soon we'll all be driving Trumpchis -- tell us something we don't know. China will the dominant economy before the decade is out, and will be the economic powerhouse of 2020 to 2030, after which they will implode.

    Of course, most Americans won't be around at all to see that happen, as the USA will become a dangerous 3rd world shithole by 2030.

  • I can't wait to hear from all the pundits why this means Apple—and only Apple—is doomed.

    After all, it's not as if they're taking significantly more marketshare and profitshare from Samsung than from Apple or anything...oh, no; every single event that can be broadly construed to be in the cellphone or consumer technology space, no matter how loosely related to Apple, can only ever mean that Apple is in trouble, and all its competitors are poised to take over in everything.

    :-P

    Dan Aris

    • I think you're the first to suggest that this article means that Apple is doomed.

      • They're the first person to even mention Apple, which is refreshing.

      • WHAT? Apple is doomed?! Oh no!

        Hey, everyone - I just heard Apple is doomed!

      • MIUI costs less to develop than iOS. Why? MIUI is open and accepts 3rd party contributions, while iOS does not (in the places that count).

        How long can a business lose market share with a more expensive product? We should ask Microsoft.

        • MIUI costs less to develop than iOS. Why? MIUI is open and accepts 3rd party contributions, while iOS does not (in the places that count).

          Gracefully accepting code from the NSA - priceless.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        I think you're the first to suggest that this article means that Apple is doomed.

        Pretty much.

        Apple has faded so far into mediocrity, they now have to generate their own hate.

        But seriously, I dont see how anyone is DOOOOMED(TM) by this because its just another competitor. Huawei and Xiaomi have been making phones for some time, the top models on par with the offerings from Samsung and HTC, this doesn't mean anyone is doomed as Android is already very competitive and fast moving.

        I just committed the cardinal /. sin, I read the article, Xaiomi has 14% of the market, Samsung has 1

    • I can't wait to hear from all the pundits why this means Apple—and only Apple—is doomed.

      Actually the only real information is Apple AND Samsung are both having their market share eaten up by Android,

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Actually it is Samsung who is doomed.

      Apple has the lions share at the top end, Apple is taking most of the profits from cellphone sales.
      Now we have Xiaomi taking out the bottom end of the market where Apple never positioned any products but Samsung did.

      Samsung are now the meat in the sandwich getting squeezed from both sides. This can already be seen in their falls in profit over the last few quarters , and even their semiconductor division is posting guidance of lower profits after Apple diversified their

      • Apple has the lions share at the top end...Google may eject them from the Android market..Tablet sales are slowing

        There is no top end or bottom end...there is just a market for smartphones it is why we are discussing a Chinese branded(not just made in China like the iphone). The proof is we are in an article discussing a phone company as the new Apple...at a fraction of the price ...with more premium features.

        Google cannot eject Samsung from the Android market. In fact quite the opposite Google for mow is reliant on Samsung. In fact tomorrow Samsung could produce an Android phone without Google like Amazon and Microsof

        • by Zebedeu ( 739988 )

          Google cannot eject Samsung from the Android market. In fact quite the opposite Google for mow is reliant on Samsung. In fact tomorrow Samsung could produce an Android phone without Google like Amazon and Microsoft...

          No, they couldn't.
          Samsung has had their own Android store for a while, and despite their success selling hardware, nobody wants to use their software, and developers don't want to publish in their store.

          If Samsung dropped the Google Play Store, they'd suddenly see their software library become very limited and their (soon to be ex-) customers very unhappy.
          Especially now that their sales are starting to go down. The other Android players are catching up.

          Similarly, Google can't drop Samsung since they represe

    • This kind of post works so much better if you wait until somebody actually says the thing you are so sure everybody will say.

      Anyways, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Apple are all Chinese-made phones so who really cares? It would be far more shocking if the manufacture of components and final assembly for tens of millions of phones shifted from one nation to another within a year. Designing a styling a phone doesn't require any infrastructure. Heck, the baton has already passed from Motorolla (Chicago? or Phoen

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Competition in the USA is the most hated word for local duo/monopolies.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Oh lookie, seems Slashdot greenlighted an article from an SEO guy! He's not even ashamed to put "seo" in his user name! Be sure to check out his other submission, "Get Best Android News In India"!
  • In case you didn't know, xiaomi means "little grain of rice" in mandarin. Everyone loves rice!
    Apple = cute fruit that cannot possibly offend anyone

    Brilliant!

    • by Ken_g6 ( 775014 )

      Even better, the name is pronounced like the English "show me". (Click the listen button on Google Translate. [google.com]) Which should be easy to spin into a very visual English ad campaign.

    • In case you didn't know, xiaomi means "little grain of rice" in mandarin./p>

      Actually, it means "millet". "Xiao' means little, and "mi" means rice or grain. But you don't just slap the meanings together. The meaning changes when syllables are combined into words.

      In America, people use millet mainly as parakeet food. But in China, it is a very common part of the diet. They make a delicious millet porridge, and millet is often added to soup or stew.

  • Chinese history is built upon artists who can copy the master's work. Xiaomi, and many others fit this roll perfectly, and we should expect nothing less. The there will always be a Chinese copy of a product or art form that has achieved greatness. The real question is if a Chinese company has the potential to break out of this roll, and become the great product that others copy.
  • ... it becomes apparent what has been going on:

    a) foreign industry allowed in to Chinese markets;
    b) Chinese intelligence (government and industrial ... there's a difference?) goes to work stealing IP and passing it on to chosen Chinese industry;
    c) foreign industry gets hit with exclusions (eg. MS and Apple banned for government use) and legal harassment (MS target of anti-trust investigation); and
    d) Chinese industry rises to dominate the market (Xiaomi - Apple of China).

    Nothing wrong with all that, a so

  • by Squidlips ( 1206004 ) on Thursday August 07, 2014 @08:46AM (#47621749)
    then this phone would really be truly wonderful

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