• Xiaomi and Wiko undermine the 'five sisters' of smartphones

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Beijing January 15, 2015 That the Mi Note presents itself as a direct competitor of Apple's top smartphone is no mystery, as declared by Xiaomi itself: it is "lighter and thinner (6.95mm) than the iPhone, with a 5.7" display. inches and 13 megapixel camera. It is equipped with a 3 GB Ram processor and a 3000 mAh battery, "said CEO Lei Jun.

The selling price for the 16Gb model is 2299 yuan ($ 371), less than half of the iPhone 6 Plus, while the Pro model will cost $ 520.  



First in Asia, third in the world


The Chinese company, which just three years after the launch of its first smartphone has reached a valuation of about 45 billion dollars, is the third largest manufacturer of mobile devices in the world, preceded by Apple and Samsung, respectively in the first and second. place.

On the Asian continent, it beat the competition, with more than 61 million devices sold in 2014 alone, 227% more than the previous year.



'Chinese Apple'


They call it 'Apple of China', a title that is not very popular with the Beijing-based company, often accused of copying the technology of the Californian giant.

"Xiaomi is an innovative company with a recent history", said Lei Jun, president and CEO of Xiaomi (the entrepreneur nicknamed the 'Chinese Steve Jobs' for his style), during the presentation of the new device at Beijing.



Smartphones connected to household appliances


"In the next ten years we will launch tens of thousands of new patents and new applications on the market, exploiting in particular the ability to connect smartphones with common household appliances, such as washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators. How would ours be. life if everything were connected? Everything would be easier ", concluded the CEO Lei.



Unstoppable rise


A little more than four years after its foundation, the Chinese company Xiaomi is considered a startup in the technology sector, with the highest value in the world.

The group led by Lei Jun has raised 1.1 billion dollars in the last round of financing, breaking through the 45 billion dollar ceiling and surpassing Uber, at 40 billion dollars.



Xiaomi and its low-cost smartphones was one of the revelations of 2014, quadrupling its value in just over a year: the previous round of financing, dating back to August 2013, had brought the group to a capitalization of ten billion dollars.



Giant investments


Among the groups that have invested in Xiaomi, in the latest fund-raising there are giants such as the GIC, the Singapore sovereign fund, the private equity groups All Stars Investment, DST Global, Hopu Investment Management and Yunfeng Capital,


associated with Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba.



Sales tripled


The success of Xiaomi was also confirmed by the sales data: in the second quarter of 2013 Lei Jun's group had ousted the Korean Samsung as the first smartphone retailer in China for the first time.

For 2014, Xiaomi has set (and exceeded) the target of 60 million smartphones sold, more than triple the previous year, with just under twenty million copies.

In 2015 he plans to sell 100 million smartphones.