Xiaomi

In a durability test which will send health and safety professionals in to overdrive, the ceramic-backed Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro is forced to endure scratching from a number of intense-looking hardware tools. In the video, the host, Alex Wang takes to the back surface of the latest Xiaomi flagship with a number of metallic objects. Some are more common day-to-day objects like keys, others would only come in to contact with your phone in a workshop.

At an event in Beijing this morning, Xiaomi unveiled its latest huge TV. The Mi TV 3S is the company’s newest Android TV and comes with a large, curved 65-inch panel made by Samsung and measures an impossible 5.9mm thin. For reference, that’s thinner than practically every smartphone on the market.
There is no denying that Samsung put a lot of effort into the making of this year’s new flagship devices, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. Despite having faced several difficulties regarding sales and profit margins, along other Android OEMs, the South Korean giant looks to be on the right track regarding numbers for the newest flagships.
Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s handsets business, mentioned during a press briefing that the company saw strong pre-order numbers for the Galaxy S7 phones, saying that they were ‘stronger than expected’…

Xiaomi has finally unveiled its next flagship phone at a press event this morning, and from the design alone, it would be easy to confuse the device with a Galaxy S7. The seamless glass front surface features a pill-shaped home button, a solid metal frame with sculpted edges, and even the glass back which curves towards the edges. But don’t let that copycat form factor put you off. With a starting price of around $306 USD (¥1999), this smartphone packs in an incredible array of high-end features…

Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s global VP, hasn’t been shy about teasing features for the upcoming Mi 5 smartphone. Xiaomi’s next flagship is being unveiled at an event in Barcelona, at MWC 2016. He’s already told us that the phone will come equipped with Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 820.

Update: Looks like US Mobile has pulled the phones from its online store already. A quick search for Xiaomi and Meizu phones reveals no matching products.
As a new month began yesterday, it seemed Xiaomi may have finally started selling its devices in the States, through US Mobile. The small carrier drew attention to the fact it was the first to start selling Xiaomi phones in the States, despite the fact that the models being offered didn’t support its own LTE bands.

Update: Looks like US Mobile has pulled the phones from its online store already following Xiaomi’s statement that sales were unauthorized.
One of 2016’s major trends will be the entrance of large Chinese OEMs into the American phone market. Announced at CES, Huawei is entering with their Honor lines of phones and now more are joining in. While Honor is selling unlocked phones through numerous retailers, Xiaomi and Meizu devices are being sold by US Mobile.

While Canalys reported last year that Huawei overtook Xiaomi to become the biggest-selling smartphone manufacturer in China during Q3, it now says strong Q4 sales enabled Xiaomi to retake the top slot for the year. It says Xiaomi ended the year with a 15.2% market share against 14.7% for Huawei, with Apple following at 12.5%.
The WSJ reports that this view is echoed by rival market intelligence company Strategy Analytics. However, with more Chinese consumers looking to upgrade to mid-range handsets this year, Canalys analyst Nicole Peng believes the positions could be reversed during the course of this year …

Xiaomi has already confirmed that it will reveal its next flagship smartphone, the Mi 5, at a media event in Barcelona during MWC next month. While we know when the phone will be launched, and that it will be equipped with a Snapdragon 820 processor, little else is close to confirmed. Even the design has been something of a mystery since all we’ve seen so far is a couple of sketchy leaks and a supposed render.
Today, further evidence has risen suggesting the earlier render was accurate. Images posted by well-known leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer show what appears to be a warehouse with multiple empty white boxes stacked on a pallet, seemingly ready for shipment to assembly lines.
The boxes themselves show a device almost identical to the previous renders, and shows them in four different fashionable colors: gold, pink, white and black.
Design-wise, the devices look very much like a Galaxy S6 with its rounded metal frame plus the glass front and back panels. The glass curves towards the edges on the back, similar to the design of the Note 5. As a reminder, these are the earlier leaks which claimed to show the Mi 5’s form factor previously:
While the company has been expectedly vague with any details regarding the Mi 5, we are expecting a device with specs to match most of the top flagship phones for 2016. The SD820-powered device is rumored to feature a Quad HD display, as well as an advanced f/2.2 aperture 16MP camera with 4K video recording. If it’s anything like previous Xiaomi devices, it will cost considerably less than the Galaxy S7, which Samsung is allegedly planning to launch during the first quarter of this year.

A few days ago, Xiaomi’s global VP Hugo Barra confirmed on Twitter that the company would be releasing the next eagerly-anticipated smartphone on February 24. Just a few hours ago, Barra took to Facebook to announce that a media preview for the Xiaomi Mi 5 will take place in Barcelona during MWC while the launch event takes place in Beijing…

Following weeks of speculation and leaks, Xiaomi’s global VP, Hugo Barra has confirmed on Twitter that the Mi 5 will launch on February 24. Having already revealed that the Mi 5 will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, it’s clear this device is going to be the company’s flagship smartphone of 2016.
#Mi5 is almost here! Xiaomi’s first product in 2016, launching on Feb. 24. It’s everything you imagined, and more. pic.twitter.com/FTd0KzFrgD
— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) January 26, 2016
Apart from the processor, we know little about the Mi 5 with certainty. One website’s placeholder suggested the device will ship with specs that should compete head-to-head with the Galaxy S7, although it will undoubtedly be cheaper than Samsung’s next flagship smartphone. The Mi 5 listing claimed the smartphone will have a 5.2-inch Quad HD display coated in 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It also suggested the phone will have a 6-element 16MP camera on the back with f/2.2 aperture and 4K video recording.
Xiaomi is well known for releasing powerful smartphones at competitive prices. The big question for 2016 is whether or not it will launch its upcoming devices in the US and other established western markets. Its biggest competitor, Huawei, made huge strides internationally last year, and will surely extend its lead over Xiaomi if the Mi-makers don’t respond aggressively.

Xiaomi is openly facing increased competition as it missed its 2015 target of selling 80 million phones—the 70 million devices they did sell is a clear miss compared to an optimistic 80-100 million device target. According to a Reuters report, the Chinese company that fashions itself as the Apple of China is now planning new stores in hopes of doubling offline smartphone sales…

Xiaomi has announced that it sold over 70 million smartphones over the course of the entire 2015 fiscal year. The company didn’t state exactly how many smartphones were sold, but it has improved on its 2014 total by around 10 million units. It’s not all positive for Xiaomi though, it missed its own 80 million projection set for 2015 which itself was reduced from an original target of 100 million…

Not long ago, Xiaomi’s co-founder indicated we should expect to see its next flagship, the Mi 5, launch sometime after the Spring Festival (also known as Chinese New Year). The only other fact we knew for sure was that it will be powered by Qualcomm’s newest processor, the Snapdragon 820, which is being built using Samsung’s 14nm FinFET process.
While there’s no guarantee that these are definitive, or accurate, there have been a couple more leaks pointing towards what we should expect from the Mi 5 and when we should expect to see it…

Xiaomi has taken the wraps off a new variant of its flagship phablet, the Redmi Note 3. This new model is equipped with Qualcomm’s hexa-core Snapdragon 650 processor and is priced just a little higher than the MediaTek-powered models…
Lenovo has today launched a budget phone in China, and it’s called the Lemon 3. Notably, this is different than the phone that leaked last year that also had a citrus-y name. While the Lemon X (which launched in Chinese markets a couple of months ago under the name Vibe X3) is aimed at the mid-range, the Lemon 3 is aimed at the lower end of the market…

Investors are “beginning to question” Xiaomi’s $46B valuation after the company reportedly failed to hit its sales target of 80M smartphones in 2015, reports the WSJ. That target was itself reduced from 100M last summer, and the company has also not yet delivered on its promise of substantial revenue from Internet services.
Xiaomi has faced tougher competition from more established brands like Huawei.
Huawei’s engineering strength and brand image, built up over decades, make it difficult for Xiaomi to compete in China, analysts say.
“The competition in China’s smartphone market has intensified tremendously this year,” said a Xiaomi spokeswoman, who declined to comment on the company’s valuation or say whether it met its 2015 sales target.
Huawei comfortably overtook Xiaomi to become the Chinese market leader in October of last year …

Having been teased by the manufacturer a few days ago, the new Redmi 3 has finally been unveiled by Xiaomi. The company took to its Facebook page to announce the new phone this morning. As with all things made by Xiaomi, it punches well above its price-point, offering a premium look and feel combined with decent specs, at an affordable price…

Just a couple of days back, Xiaomi‘s SVP revealed on Weibo that his company is ramping up full-capacity production ahead of a February launch for its next flagship, the Xiaomi Mi 5. What he didn’t say is that the company is also planning to launch a smaller, more fashion-focussed phone very soon. Xiaomi has revealed two teasers for the Redmi 3 which will be unveiled in just a few days time, on January 12…

Xiaomi’s co-founder and SVP Liwang Jiang has confirmed on Chinese social network, Weibo, that the company is ramping up production of the Xiaomi Mi 5 ahead of a launch sometime after Spring Festival/Chinese New Year. The device will ship with the brand new quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor.
From the loosely translated page, it seems Xiaomi‘s production of the next flagship is hitting peak levels now to ensure that there’s enough stock for when the smartphone is released next month.
We don’t know much else about the Chinese manufacturer’s next smartphone. There have been rumors, as there always are, suggesting we’ll see a device equipped with a QHD resolution 5.2-inch display, giving it a huge pixel density of 565ppi. It’s also rumored to feature a massive 3,600mAh battery with Quick-Charge 3.0 support, suggesting we won’t see USB Type-C. Cameras are allegedly going to be 16MP and 13MP on the rear and front respectively.
As with virtually all of Xiaomi’s products, the Mi 5 is likely to punch above its price point. Pricing is rumored to be around the $300-$400 range, putting it right at the top of Xiaomi’s product line.
Perhaps more interesting than all the claimed specifications is watching to see if this device launches officially in more international markets. With Huawei stealing its thunder in China, Xiaomi needs to hit back and has been rumored to be planning a US launch at some point soon. With the Snapdragon processor inside, the Mi 5 could end up being its first major international handsets. Of course, that’s just speculation and wishful thinking. But it would be great to finally see the brand officially hit international store shelves.

In 2015, the smartphone or, more specifically, the Android smartphone market reached tipping point. What you can get for your money now compared to 12 months ago is pretty astounding. It started with the sub $300 Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 in March, and ended with the $100 BLU phone equipped with a full HD screen. With 2016 almost here, we’re right in the thick of a race to the bottom, and the price drops are being driven primarily by Chinese companies.
If 2016 is the going to be the year of anything, it’ll be the year more western consumers will be handing over their hard-earned cash for something designed and made in China. These are the companies to watch:

A Xiaomi device likely to be the Redmi 3 has passed through China’s TENNA regulatory agency and the process has revealed photos and specifications of the upcoming device. The Redmi is the company’s more entry-level smartphone and has specs to reflect that.

Having recently shown up on TENAA, China’s certification body for consumer electronics, the metal version of Xiaomi’s flagship Redmi Note 2 has been teased by the company’s co-founder. As we’ve already seen from the TENAA images, the press render shows a device with a metal back panel, adding a more premium look to the range which, so far, has only been available in a variety of colored plastics…