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by rednukleus 4617 days ago
What kind of warped reality do you live in that only selling 5 million units a year while updating the hardware every week is "no big deal"?

Regarding rapid obsolescence, this seems to work very well in Asian markets. They typically release a far greater number of devices, because there is a strong market for second hand phones, and many people like to keep switching to the latest thing.
3 comments
JonFish85 4617 days ago
The 5 million by itself is fine. It's the comparison to Apple that seems out of whack to me. The article doesn't compare them to a startup, it compares them to one of the biggest companies in the world. If you do that, you invite criticism on the comparison, which is what I gave.
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kkowalczyk 4617 days ago
Xiaomi is 3.5 years old, currently only sells in China and in Chinese market it has already overtaken Apple in market share.

I think comparing them to Apple on the basis of sold phones in China is justified.

Looking into my crystal ball, I further think that their strategy is so brilliant and their execution is so good that we're witnessing the rise of a new giant.

Give it 5 years and they'll be in the same league as Apple and Samsung on a world-wide basis, not just in China.

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r0h1n 4616 days ago
Seconding the rapid obsolescence point about Asian markets. The CEO of one of the leading mobile phone retail chains (440+ stores) in India (3rd largest global smartphone market after China and the US, might be second largest very soon) told me consumers are changing phones every 9 months on an average.

This is the mass market he's referring to, not the folks who're spending $600-800 on the latest iPhones or Galaxy Notes.

Still, makes me feel positively ancient given I used my Nexus One for nearly 3 years before moving to the Nexus 4.

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gibwell 4617 days ago
Do you seriously think that Xiaomi makes the kind of changes that Apple makes to their products annually on a weekly basis?
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lotyrin 4617 days ago
Do you seriously think they would have to before it's worth being impressed over?
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gibwell 4615 days ago
It's impressive if it is good for the customers, but the comparison with Apple is uninformative linkbait.
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