Why is Xiaomi both the best and the worst possible thing for Android?

Let’s go back a little, to the year 2011 And when the market Android It was still not considered a suitable place for customers who were looking for an economical phone. Some of the most popular sultans of that period of phones Wildfire HTC, Samsung Galaxy Mini And ZTE Blade and a phone with powerful hardware and a reasonable price still seemed out of reach until the emergence of a brand not only disturbed the equations, but also turned the game table completely. This brand was nothing but a name Xiaomi!

Now, more than a decade later, the impact of this company on the smartphone market is still undeniable. In this article, we want to take a look at Xiaomi’s contributions to the smartphone industry, which of course requires a bit of historical background.

When Xiaomi introduced its first phone in 2011, Nokia and operating system Symbian They were still one of the main players in the mobile world, Samsung was the biggest Android player and HTC was not a forgotten name like it is now, however, the problem was that none of the mentioned names were really satisfactory and friendly to customers’ pockets.

Xiaomi and hardware democracy

The smartphone industry today revolves around the concept Price Of course, products like Folding phones They are judged and noticed based on their innovation, but in the end, the price and what you get in return is the first and last word.

Everything with Xiaomi May 1 It started (image below), a model with a powerful chip Snapdragon S3RAM 1 GB And a high-resolution display was released. The competitor of this phone at that time Galaxy S2 It was Samsung that offered the same specifications but hundreds of dollars more than the Xiaomi phone more expensive Was.

Nevertheless, Xiaomi’s strategy of “Good hardware for a good priceHe answered and this company continued to follow the mentioned process and in other words, it caused more people to have access to a good hardware.

until the year 2014 Xiaomi was ready to go big in international markets with the launch of the phone May 3 (Bottom image) This brand not only sells its model but also with Minimum profit margin It perfected what could be done, but it also placed high-speed online sales well in the market.

In the continuation of this company in a short period of time Indian market Conquered and up to the year 2017 took the position of the most popular brand in this country; A position previously held by Samsung. Xiaomi still has today 21 percent In terms of market share in India, it still maintains this position.

At the same time, Xiaomi is easily in the international markets third place He has settled down and is chasing two other big names in the world of technology Samsung And Apple Is.

This company continues to introduce its subcategory brands redmi And poco payment and grew more than before by providing basic as well as high-end high-performance models. Of course, it should be noted that Xiaomi has changed its trend to some extent since then and now has both premium models and offline retail stores.

Of course, Xiaomi never completely abandoned the former practice and the initial sales of this company are still done online, and even newer players such as Nothing They are also trying to imitate this Chinese technology giant.

Xiaomi by limiting its profit margin to 5 percent After tax year 2018, It ensured the continued competitiveness of its brand. However, since the road to profitability is not paved with just a few smartphones, the company still had another trump card up its sleeve.

Ecosystem strategy

Today, Xiaomi is playing with its competitors in an ecosystem that consists of hundreds of partner brands, so that the company’s product portfolio currently consists of Smart lamp And Robotic sweepers And Toothbrush taken up to Television and even shoe It includes

However, despite all these cases, the driving factorEcosystem strategy“Xiaomi, which is considered the bread and butter of this company, is none other than Chiri MIUI.

To create a better understanding of this issue, it should be said that Xiaomi was one of the first companies to enter the game.dominate Software to the customer in the form of hardware” became. It was such that the company made a lot of money by selling access to themes, wallpapers, ringtones, streaming movies and music, and much more, despite not making much profit in hardware.

In fact, Xiaomi is more than a hardware company Internet company considers On the other hand, it took years for companies like Apple to reach such a point, this company was practically a hardware company until 2013, but today software add-on And subscription services account for a significant portion of Apple’s revenue.

A few other companies also tried to get on the software ecosystem train like Xiaomi, but only a few could replicate its success.

When Xiaomi shares in 2018 and only 8 years After its establishment, it was publicly offered, the value of which is approx 50 billion dollars It was estimated, in other words, this brand Third It was considered the most valuable smartphone manufacturer in the world.

In this way, Xiaomi’s trump card is to build a software ecosystem on a hardware pyramid for this brand in the form of “dividends» It had a financial return.

Xiaomi and a permanent wound on the body of Android

For all the growth and success that Xiaomi has achieved through its software platform, it also has a dark side. In the early years, this company became infamous due to the forced and extensive advertising of its software.

In the following, the success of this company in the mentioned field caused a flood of forced advertisements from other companies to repeat the success. Software sales model They had Xiaomi. Today, even Samsung flagship buyers are not completely safe from these advertisements.

Although today, this Chinese technology company has retreated from its position regarding advertising, but advertising pushing ads It was a wound inflicted by Xiaomi on the Android body and it may never heal.

Xiaomi of the year 2022 Many differences with that Xiaomi that year 2010 It was founded by Lee Jun, but it still holds true to its original nature as MIUI still underpins every phone from the company, and its ambitions to build a connected ecosystem have never been greater.

In the end, it must be said whether we agree with Xiaomi’s actions or not, no one can ignore the standards created by this company in the world of technology.