Xiaomi Corp (小米) yesterday unveiled its latest top-tier smartphone to bring the fight to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, as the Chinese start-up readies a highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO).
Cofounder Lei Jun (雷軍) showed off the MIX 2S, which starts at 3,299 yuan (US$527).
The phone — on paper — sports many of the bells and whistles familiar to power users, but is about half the iPhone X’s price tag.
Photo: Bloomberg
It has got a six-inch bezelless screen, ceramic body, Qualcomm’s latest processor and dual cameras.
It is Xiaomi’s third full-screen phone — a feature now embraced by the biggest vendors.
The MIX 2S could spearhead Xiaomi’s increasingly aggressive expansion into overseas markets, particularly the developed nations in which it still lacks a presence.
The company that once led the Chinese market has taken back domestic share from local brands such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) and Vivo Communication Technology Co Ltd (維沃移動通信) since last year, but they are all looking overseas as China’s smartphone market begins to shrink.
Xiaomi’s latest gadget could boost sales as Chinese consumers trade up to better-quality products and phone makers raise prices to compensate for the absence of new buyers.
At the launch, Lei repeatedly took potshots at Apple’s most advanced gadget, demonstrating how the iPhone X got much hotter running games and how Xiaomi’s low-light camera took better photos.
At one point, he even said the phone’s artificial intelligence assistant surpassed Siri.
“We are comparing to iPhone X because people say it is the best phone. We just want to show we surpassed the best in many features,” Lei told an audience packed into a Shanghai auditorium often used as a concert venue.
Beijing-based Xiaomi is said to be planning an IPO later this year, a coming-out party that could value the company as high as US$100 billion.
It has been investing in a growing number of partners that sell products from air purifiers to power banks under Xiaomi’s brand.
Huami Corp (華米), which makes fitness trackers and “smart” watches, raised US$110 million in a New York IPO last month.
The firm now hopes a growing footprint beyond China could help boost its debut valuation.
It was the biggest smartphone vendor in India in the fourth quarter last year, according to research firm IDC.
Apart from emerging markets, Xiaomi is also eyeing Europe and North America, where it can sell higher-priced products.
The company is said to be angling to challenge Apple on its home turf no later than next year.
Xiaomi’s flagship line will be pivotal to that effort.
The MIX 2S also sports wireless charging and near-field communication, two technologies gaining popularity among consumers.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
PROBE CONTINUES: Those accused falsely represented that the chips would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized end users, court papers said Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case local media have linked to the movement of Nvidia’s advanced chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek (深度求索). The US is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model’s performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such
RSS