Xiaomi Takes Direct Aim At the iPhone

摘要

Chinese smartphone upstart Xiaomi is turning the release of high-end, low-priced gadgets into something of a ritual. At a July 22 press conference in Beijing, Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun unveiled the Mi4, a metal-backed iPhone-esque smartphone with a 5-inch display, the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, and a $320 price tag that puts the Mi4 in much easier reach of China's middle class than the iPhone 5S, which sells in that country for more than $850. "Our product really is better than the iPhone," bragged Lei, dressed in jeans and a black shirt, the kind of uniform Steve Jobs used to wear at product introductions. "Even our white color is whiter." Founded only four years ago, the company says it hopes to sell 60 million handsets this year, up from 18 million last year. Next year's target: 100 million phones. In the first quarter of this year, Xiaomi was the third-largest smartphone vendor in China and sixth-largest globally, according to research firm Canalys.