China's Xiaomi Aims Its Priciest Phone at Huawei and Apple (bloomberg.com)

Xiaomi really wants to shed its down-market image. China's No. 2 smartphone maker is counting on its most expensive device yet to face off against Huawei and Apple at home while carving out a bigger footprint in Europe. From a report: The Chinese smartphone maker on Thursday unveiled the MIX 3, the fourth generation of a series introduced in 2016. Xiaomi's latest effort to acquire a premium gloss features a bezel-less 6.4-inch screen, Qualcomm processors and slick ceramic body. It now sports front-facing cameras on a sliding structure nestled behind the screen, doing away with the notch popularized by the iPhone. The device will go on sale from November starting at 3,299 yuan ($475) and going all the way up to 4,999 yuan for a "Forbidden City" special edition. It marks Chairman Lei Jun's effort to make greater headway into a more profitable premium market dominated by Apple, Samsung and -- to an increasing extent -- Chinese rival Huawei. That's where customers have deeper pockets to pay for services such as music and games that Xiaomi deems the future of its business. Xiaomi claims that its MIX 3 handset is the first commercial handset that is 5G ready (though the variant with 5G capabilities will go on sale in Europe only in the first quarter of next year.) Other specs of the handset includes: Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845; Screen: 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED (1080Ã--2340, 19.5:9 aspect ratio); RAM: 6/8/10GB; Rear camera: 12-megapixel, f/1.8 + 12-megapixel, f/2.4; Front camera: 24-megapixel, f/2.2 + 2-megapixel; Battery: 3,200 mAh; Internal memory: 128/256GB.

Comments

Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[sinij]

Communist Party of China monitoring app is pre-installed.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[Joce640k]

Communist Party of China monitoring app is pre-installed.

So? What would the Chinese government possibly do with my data?

If my data is being uploaded to a government I'd rather have a government that's far away and has no personal interest in me. It's much better than having the NSA app preinstalled.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[Tough Love]

Who is spying on you? Check one: China. Google. Apple. Facebook. All of the above. More than the above.

This is where an active community of enthusiasts checking the network traffic for telemetry is absolutely essential, which we certainly have got on Android. Personally, I think the risk of getting caught actively spying and the ensuing erosion of customer base is enough to keep Xiaomi in line, at least in line with the usual privacy thugs above. I'd be more worried about apps like Wechat, or Facebook, or Linkedin. These are all just blatantly evil without a hint of shame.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[Tough Love]

What would the Chinese government possibly do with my data?

The possibilities are endless. Let me name just one: install malware on your phone that actively scans for vulnerable devices on your home network, ending up with malware on all those too, and owning all your passwords including your bank.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[larryjoe]

Communist Party of China monitoring app is pre-installed.

So? What would the Chinese government possibly do with my data?

If my data is being uploaded to a government I'd rather have a government that's far away and has no personal interest in me. It's much better than having the NSA app preinstalled.

What could the foreign government of China do with the data of Americans? There are quite a few possibilities, including denying your visa request to visit China, punishing in various forms the Chinese and non-Chinese people that you are connected to, breaking into your accounts to observe personal and corporate information, gathering that information directly, implanting trojans to monitor and disrupt various infrastructure or financial networks, etc.

The Chinese government has absolutely no personal interest in any American on the street. However, it has a huge interest in leveraging the information and potential leverage points from any accessible American individual to gain military, political, commercial, and emotional advantages over the American nation.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[DNS-and-BIND]

The US government is in a position to do me far more harm. That's not even a joke. The Chinese government doesn't bomb people and invade nations. Their police don't murder POC on the streets. Nobody kneels during the Chinese national anthem. All of these happen in America.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[MachineShedFred]

The two are not mutually exclusive. Your data can be uploaded to multiple "security" agencies at once.

It's like spy agency multicast.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[MachineShedFred]

Their police don't murder POC on the streets

No, they "disappear" people regardless of ethnicity.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[larryjoe]

The US government is in a position to do me far more harm. That's not even a joke.

The US federal government is unlikely to physically or financially harm most US citizens. The local police are also unlikely to harm most US citizens that aren't black or Hispanic, which excludes the overwhelming portion of slashdot-land. There is a non-zero probability that the federal or local government in the US may harm the typical slashdot reader, but I'd be shocked if that probability isn't orders of magnitude below 1% for the typical slashdot reader. In the US, the far more significant problem is that the government ignores too many citizens and their needs.

The Chinese government doesn't bomb people and invade nations.

The post-WWII Chinese government has historically only had minor skirmishes with the Indians, but they do have a huge number of missiles aimed at Taiwan that they promise to use to kill millions of people if these people say the wrong words. So far, the Chinese government in its short two-decade foray into imperialism has tried to restrict itself to economic imperialism because it realizes that its military buildup requires a little more time.

Their police don't murder POC on the streets.

There aren't many people of color in China, but there are Muslims that need "re-education" and, of course, this "re-education" is done off the streets. On the streets, they employ "unaffiliated" street thugs to carry out their physical intimidation and violence, similar to what the Russians do with their "unaffiliated" patriots in Ukraine.

Nobody kneels during the Chinese national anthem. All of these happen in America.

No one is stupid enough to kneel during the Chinese national anthem, and those that are so unpatriotic only make that mistake once. That this happens in the US is an indication of the tremendous difference in freedoms and rights.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[DNS-and-BIND]

Nobody feels the NEED to kneel. There's a huge difference there.

Is someone seriously trying to defend the USA and cast it as the good guys? Have you been asleep since 9/11? Torture, wars of aggression, bombing the piss out of neutral countries? Did you miss all that? Heck, it didn't start on 9/11.

The United States not only overthrew governments (sometimes democratically elected ones) - or attempted to - in Albania, Ghana, Guatemala, Greece, Cuba, Chile, Iran, El Salvador, Nicaragua, South Vietnam, Argentina, and Grenada. It also supported violently illiberal forces, from Islamist mujahideen in Afghanistan-Pakistan and President Hosni Mubarak's oppressive state in Egypt to the Indonesian Suharto regime and its death squads. A mainstay of U.S. hegemony in the Persian Gulf is its partnership with Saudi Arabia, an absolutist state that beheads apostates and survives by making concessions to Wahhabi theocrats. It is currently waging a brutal campaign against rebels in Yemen that, according to Amnesty International, includes attacks that are "indiscriminate, disproportionate or directed against civilians and civilian objects, including funeral gatherings, schools, markets, residential areas and civilian boats." NATO allies on the European continent for decades included authoritarian Portugal and Greece. West Germany, the poster child of the liberal order, did not have elections during its first four years, and its proud social democracy retained officials who had been security elites in the Third Reich. Former Nazi mandarins stuffed the highest levels of government, including the Foreign Office and the Interior and Justice Ministries. Several former Nazi generals would later become senior commanders in the Bundeswehr.

China did what, had a few brief border skirmishes with its neighbors? The amount of harm isn't even comparable. Unless you work for the CIA, you've got far less to fear from a distant government uninterested in your life than a government right next to you that has proven its hostility and moral bankruptcy again and again.

Re:Communist Party of China app is preinstalled

[Joce640k]

The US government would love to do all that, too.

my first reaction was be no way

[froggyjojodaddy]

.. but when I stop and think about it, if I'm spending $700+ on a phone, I don't really care about brand. I prefer Android so in a toss up between Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, I'll really just go for the one with the most features appealing to me.

I have a Samsung phone right now (first Samsung..) but with all the bloatware, I'm not going to buy another*


*I can't root it as my company's UEM software will flag it as rooted and quarantine it *sadface*

Re:my first reaction was be no way

[Joce640k]

Can't you root it and then have it make your UEM thing believe it's not rooted?

With Xiaomi you can.

The Chinese government doesn't care about foreigners so you can ask them for an unlock key for the phone.

(They actually give it to you, too, after they verify you're a foreigner. I've done it...)

Re:my first reaction was be no way

[Tough Love]

Go for the one with a headphone jack. Looks like, not this one. Otherwise, its a lot of phone for a decent price.

The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[jellomizer]

Everyone is trying to be the Rolex of Phones. However such devices depreciate in value, so they cannot be priced as such. So while the $1000 phone is on the pricey side, it isn't really something you can go to a stereotypical snobby party and impress your peers with. That Premium Luxury phone is so common that you will fail to impress the blue collar worker, who may have the same model (but may had to sacrifice a bit more to get it) And within 3-4 year. The price would depreciate so much that they cannot be given away.

Unlike a Rolex Watch which if I got one 50 years ago, it would still be worth a lot of money, probably more then you bought it for, and would still be useful and valuable.

These phone makers are trying to be the big name in premium, while not making a premium product. Mostly because technology depreciates so quickly, and are still priced at a level people can afford if they really want them.

Sure these devices are something that is always on you, and probably should look good as well be functional. But these companies put a lot of effort into trying to be something they will not become.

Re:The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[Antiocheian]

Enjoy your Rolex and I hope you'll keep impressing people with it for a long time.

Re:The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[jellomizer]

I don't have one. Too expensive and I would be giving up too much for something I probably wouldn't wear 99.99% of the time.

But the point is some people buy these Premium phones thinking they will look like they are Mr. Successful. While no one really cares, with maybe with the exception of a teenager who cant buy anything at all. Granted we have our inner childhood ambitions of just getting any toy you want and the jealously you have towards the kid who actually had the GI Joe Aircraft Carrier, even if you wern't big into playing with GI Joe that was just the ultimate toy you could get as a kid.
So we buy these devices Apple, Samsung... with the feeling of getting this respect that never happens. Because the Premium phone isn't the Aircraft Carrier, but just Jeep that everyone had, still a nice toy, but just not impressive.

Re:The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[Type44Q]

But these companies put a lot of effort into trying to be something they will not become.

As long as their buyers are too stupid to realize this, these companies have no reason to care.

Re:The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[Tough Love]

This phone is priced as a high midrange, nowhere close to Pixel or I-phone. But it's a flagship, no question. Same Screen resolution as Pixel 3, a little less than the XL. Looks like the value is there.

For me, rom unlock is a huge plus, lack of headphone jack is a huge negative.

Re:The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[Tough Love]

some people buy these Premium phones thinking they will look like they are Mr. Successful

They look like they're carrying their lunch in their pocket, frankly. I can see this working with a purse.

Re:The Luxury phone (That everyone has)

[Antiocheian]

OK, I get your point, sorry for not reading your posting carefully. I personally think that expensive watches are as superficial a status symbol as expensive phones, though definitely not as ephemeral. People used to have gold teeth and claim they were the best type of artificial teeth, etc, but in reality they were considered a status symbol that has, thankfully, faded.

If it makes you feel better

[rsilvergun]

it's pre-installed on the iPhone and Androids too. They're a Kleptocracy, so they keep a close eye on everybody.

Mechanical weakness

[Stormwatch]

It now sports front-facing cameras on a sliding structure nestled behind the screen, doing away with the notch popularized by the iPhone.

Uh-oh. Mechanical moving parts are a weak point, another thing to possibly go bad. Fuck this anti-bezel madness... I understand that the phone would look more elegant if you could make it "all screen", but if the alternatives are added mechanical complexity or an ugly notch, then both alternatives are worse than what they're trying to replace.

Re:Mechanical weakness

[Gabest]

My Samsung D200 still slides perfectly. It is ancient.

Re:Mechanical weakness

[MachineShedFred]

On the other hand, the front-facing camera is only present when you are using the front-facing camera. That sounds like it would be awesome for me, because I rarely use video chat and I'm not taking narcissistic selfies all the time. I would, however, not be looking at that stupid notch any time I use the display, which is every single time you use the phone for anything at all.

Over time there might be mechanical issues depending on how it's implemented as you say. I'd also be curious as to if they can still make water resistance standards that Apple and Samsung currently offer.

Yeah, no

[cascadingstylesheet]

If I'm going to pay that much for a phone (which I'm not, but anyway), it'll be to a company at least theoretically within my country's jurisdiction ...

Typically my only reason to get some exotic Chinese thing (as opposed to some non-exotic merely Chinese-made thing) is price. If the price is the same high price, what's the point?

Re:Yeah, no

[RuiFRibeiro]

I do not know about you, but I prefer to have a phone *outside* my country jurisdiction...

Re:Yeah, no

[DNS-and-BIND]

Why? The Chinese government is not in a position to do you harm. The US government certainly is.

Re:Yeah, no

[MachineShedFred]

Value.

If they are delivering the same features and quality for 80% of the price, then that represents far more value than other devices.

I don't know if they are - that's left to be determined by reviews once the device becomes generally available. I will say that I have a "travel" phone that I use when leaving the country that is a Xiaomi A2 Lite that works pretty good for the $100 I paid for it, albeit a tad slow and needing a reboot every once in a while; but I haven't run across an Android device that doesn't need a kick here and there. It's cheap, unlocked, rootable, dual-SIM, has an SD card slot, and the battery lasts for multiple days - basically everything I'm looking for when out of my home country.

Re:Yeah, no

[aeeneas]

The same specs

They do look the same, but in reality a phone's specs are not limited to the number of pixels or processor cores, so you should see the reviews.

Re:Yeah, no

[aeeneas]

The Xiaomi phones are known to have very low profit margins

Not really, since Xiaomi posted a record gross margin for Q2 of more than 30% (Apple's margin for the same period was lower).

My two teenage sons

[grungeman]

The are totally pumped for the new Huawei phone. I do not know much about this, because I use my phone only for making phone calls, but Huawei seems to be the most attractive brand among their peer group. Of course they will not get it, as I will not shell out 1000€ for a phone, because I am neither moneybags nor a moron.

The goal is still the same

[rsilvergun]

let everyone know you've got a lot of money. The trouble is it's hard to tell one phone from another because at the end of the day it's just a square. That worked for a while with iPhones until there were enough of them on the secondary market to dilute the value.

It's called a Veblen Good. The Rolex doesn't really have any more value than a watch a 1/10th it's price (sometimes less, you'd be surprised what you can get for $500 or less if you're a hiker). But if you're a sales person trying to show off an aura of success or a guy trying to pick up girls the Rolex is worth every penny. So was the iPhone and "Beats by Dre" not too long ago.

If it were me I'd do what Toyota did with the Lexus: Make some kind of exclusive club that felt luxurious and only let the folks who bought the expensive product in. If you want to sell Veblen goods you have to let people show off their purchase and feel smug about it.

Re:The goal is still the same

[Joce640k]

Rolex used to make the best watches in the world. They invented all sorts of things like jeweled movements, waterproofing, etc. They were the first wristwatches to be granted a "chronometer" certification - a Rolex really was worth more money in your grandpa's day.

These days? Not so much. Lots of other companies make comparable watches. Rolex is just a brand name.

Re:The goal is still the same

[Joce640k]

PS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

NOTch

[jbmartin6]

doing away with the notch popularized by the iPhone

That is enough right there to get it on my Christmas list.

Re:Down-market image?

[Tough Love]

I wonder if Xiaomi is going to start designing its own SoCs like Huawei.

Re:Down-market image?

[MachineShedFred]

Chances are, China has existed much longer than wherever you are posting from.

Don't be an ignorant fool.

Nicely designed products Re:Down-market image?

[Camembert]

I live in Hong Kong these days where you can find xiaomi here and there. I must say that I like their attention to design, almost everything they make (and that includes watercookers etc) is pretty with a good feel to it.
I have one xiaomi product, and I really love it: their “urban” backpack which is well designed (for example it has a waterproof little side compartment for an umbrella), good quality and looks much more office-like than most backpacks, and priced well too. Worth checking out.