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Uber's next PR stunt is delivering Xiaomi phones
Lyft users might get free Starbucks coffee, but certain Uber users can get a high-end Xiaomi smartphone delivered to their door, at least for a day. If you're in Singapore and Malaysia, you can order the 5.7-inch QuadHD Xiaomi Mi Note directly from the Uber app and get it delivered like some kind of high-tech pizza. Your Uber credit card will be charged for the phone and you'll be able to follow the special orange-colored vehicle as it heads your way. The deal is only good for one day, July 27th, but that's a day ahead of the official launch, briefly giving you bragging rights.
Xiaomi has a crazy slim 4K TV with pro-level colors
Xiaomi builds various products that have nothing to do with smartphones, and today it revealed two more: a 9.9mm thick 4K TV and a smart water purifier, of all things. So who cares about a 48-inch TV that will probably only be sold in Asia? Well, for $485 (or $645 with a sound bar), the Mi TV 2S is pretty interesting. Samsung made the panel, but Xiaomi built its own LED backlight module. It claims that lets it display a full, uncompressed YUV 4:4:4 color gamut at 4K and 60fps, a trick that only professional grade displays can normally pull off.
Xiaomi's next low-cost wearable will monitor your heart rate
Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has made a name for itself by delivering premium devices at budget prices. As well as phones and tablets, Xiaomi also sells accessories, including the Mi Band fitness tracker. After almost a year on sale, China's biggest mobile manufacturer feels the time is right to update its popular wearable, and thanks to Taiwan's National Communications Commission, we now know that it will come with its very own heart-rate monitor. The Mi Band 1S retains the same design as its predecessor, complete with aluminum cap, but features a new sensor on the back that's designed to stay in constant contact with a user's skin.
Xiaomi sales hit record high but miss ambitious target
Xiaomi has announced that it sold 34.7 million smartphones in the first half of 2015. Since it's already July, though, it's safe to say that the company will have to think of something exceptional to reach its target number for the year: CEO Lei Jun proclaimed long ago that he and his team aim to sell 100 million phones. Still, 34.7 million is quite impressive, seeing as it represents phones sold to customers and not devices "shipped" to retailers -- not to mention, there's been a shipment decline in China recently. It's also still 33 percent more than what the company sold within the same period last year.
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One Chinese brand makes a quarter of the world's wearable devices
Which company do you think is the fast-rising upstart in the wearable world? Fitbit? Jawbone? None of the above, if you ask IDC. It estimates that China's Xiaomi claimed 24.6 percent of the wearable device market in the first quarter of 2015, which is no mean feat when the company didn't even start shipping its first wrist-worn gadget, the Mi Band, until the second half of last year. That still amounts to just 2.8 million devices, but it was enough to shrink the market share for virtually everyone else, including industry leader Fitbit as well as Garmin, Samsung and Jawbone. And Samsung is the only smartwatch maker on the list, we'd add. LG, Motorola, Pebble and other early entrants are lumped into the "others" group.
Xiaomi officially launches its US and European stores in early June
After a brief dry run, Xiaomi is just about ready to officially launch its online store in both the US and Europe. The Chinese tech firm has announced that the Mi Store will be available in the US on June 1st, and will reach France, Germany and the UK on June 2nd. As before, you're not about to score phones like the Mi Note Pro or Mi4 through this shop -- it's all about mobile-oriented accessories, such as the Mi Band activity tracker, Mi Headphones and Mi Power Bank. If you're only interested in scoring a deal on a wearable or power pack, though, you won't have long to wait.
Xiaomi opens its online accessory shop in the US and Europe
We knew that Xiaomi was beta-launching its online accessory store in the UK this week, but now it's become clear that other regions are also being supported. The Mi Store will be available at two separate time slots: 7PM PT/ 10PM ET (May 18th) for customers in the US, followed by 1PM CET (May 19th) for people in the UK, France and Germany. As we reported before, this is a limited launch that will allow the Chinese phone maker to tentatively test consumer demand in these markets. Only four products will be sold -- a pair of headphones, a couple of portable batteries and its Mi Band fitness tracker -- and they'll be available in limited quantities. So if you're interested in being an early Xiaomi adopter, it's best to get in as early as possible. If the store is successful, who knows, we might not have to wait too long before its smartphones and tablets are also available in the West.
Xiaomi starts small with a UK online accessory store
Xiaomi is about to enter the UK market, but it won't be selling the Android phones and tablets it's best known for. Mimicking its plans for the US, the company is starting with an online accessory store for its Mi-branded headphones, battery packs and fitness trackers. Xiaomi will be taking orders from midday on May 19th, but be warned, as the store has been firmly branded with the "beta" label. As Android Authority reports, this means that all of the accessories will be available in limited quantities -- so once Xiaomi has sold through its pre-determined amounts, that'll be it. Game over. Products will ship directly from Xiaomi's warehouses in China, so be aware that you might have to pay some import duties. Clearly, Xiaomi is using this limited launch to test the UK's waters, but who knows, if it's successful maybe we'll see a full-time store selling its flagship Mi Note in the future.
China's smartphone market is big, but it isn't getting bigger
China's such a big country that there'll always be an insatiable demand for smartphones, right? Not according to research firm IDC, which believes that the nation's phone market has contracted by four percent in the last year. The outfit's merry band of spreadsheet-wranglers believes that the majority of Chinese people now own a mobile device, and as such, will only buy a phone when they want to upgrade.
Hugo Barra on why Xiaomi is against microSD cards in phones
If you were to compare iOS and Android, the latter's storage expansion option via microSD -- up to a whopping 200GB these days -- is often regarded as an advantage, though not all devices come with such offer. For instance, while HTC and LG have made the microSD slot a standard feature on their recent flagship devices, Samsung oddly decided to remove it from its Galaxy S6 series (ironically, the company has just announced new microSD cards). Xiaomi, on the other hand, seems to be on the fence: its flagship line has long ditched the microSD slot after its first-gen device, yet its affordable Redmi line uses said feature as a selling point. It's as if Xiaomi is contradicting itself, but Hugo Barra, the company's Vice President of International, gave us a more definitive answer after launching the Mi 4i in Hong Kong.
Xiaomi's affordable Yi action camera versus the GoPro Hero
The first thing my Spanish mother-in-law asked me when she saw the Xiaomi Yi was, "Is that a toy camera?" With its lime-and-aqua-marine color scheme, it's not hard to see why she might think that. But no, it is not. In fact, Xiaomi's Yi camera raised a few eyebrows when it was announced recently. Here was yet another action camera that looked suspiciously like a GoPro -- but, at the equivalent of about $65, it was almost half the price of the market-leader's cheapest offering (the $130 Hero edition), with a spec-sheet that bested it on many key features. Importantly (perhaps more so for GoPro), the Yi camera has the backing of Xiaomi, a brand that's gaining traction in China. A market everyone wants a slice of. But does it really best a GoPro?
Segway is now a Chinese company thanks to Ninebot and Xiaomi
Can't say we saw this coming, but Segway has just been fully acquired by a Chinese company called Ninebot, which also specializes in self-balancing human transporters. The irony here is that Segway actually accused its then competitor of IP infringement just a little over six months ago, according to Bloomberg. Unsurprisingly, as a three-year-old startup, Ninebot needed a little help from others with this purchase: the same event announced that Ninebot received an $80 million investment from Xiaomi -- who's got plenty of cash to play with -- plus three venture capital firms, but there was no mention of how much of that went towards said acquisition. What's also unclear is the future of the Segway brand, but it'll no doubt provide Xiaomi another gateway into the US market.
Xiaomi and Li-Ning are working on a pair of 'smart' running shoes
Chinese mobile juggernaut Xiaomi is already in the wearables game, but it'll soon equip runners' training sessions. The phone and accessory maker is working on a pair of "smart" running shoes with Li-Ning -- a China-based footwear company with a list endorsers that includes Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade. Each pair will have chips in its soles to track activity, beaming data to a mobile app to keep tabs on progress, analyze form and celebrate training milestones. The tech is being developed alongside Huami Technology, the wearable manufacturer that lent a hand with Xiaomi's Mi band. There's no word on pricing or availability just yet, but runners in China can expect "an affordable price," according to a Li-Ning statement.
Apple now ships more smartphones than Samsung, if you ask Gartner
When we last checked in on the battle for the top spot in the smartphone market, Apple and Samsung were neck and neck. If you ask Gartner, though, it isn't quite so evenly matched. The analyst group estimates that Apple managed to edge past Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2014, shipping 74.8 million phones to Samsung's 73 million. That isn't exactly a cavernous gap, but it's been a long time since any research firm unambiguously declared Apple the biggest vendor -- over three years, if you're wondering. Having said this, the changing of the guard isn't completely surprising. Apple had two brand new iPhones in the fall to goose its sales, while Samsung was grappling with both surging Chinese competitors (including chart rivals Lenovo, Huawei and Xiaomi) and a flagship phone that was getting long in the tooth.
Xiaomi's action cam bests a GoPro Hero for half the price
Xiaomi has unleashed a 399 CNY ($64) action cam onto unsuspecting cats in China, but will it join the Mi band in the US? The Yi Camera actually trumps the specs of GoPro's entry-level camera with 1080P, 60fps video and up to 64GB of memory at about half the price (the $130 Hero has 1080/30p video and 32GB max storage). It also weighs significantly less at 72g, has a bigger battery and can go the same 40m (130 feet. Update: separate case required) underwater. To be fair, unlike the Hero, it doesn't come with a housing, mounts or the impeccable rep. But Xiaomi is offering a bunch of extra accessories, including a helmet mount and, yes, a cat harness.
Xiaomi trounced Samsung in China last year
We've been charting Xiaomi's steady rise in China over the past few years, but the latest stats from IDC make it clear just how far the tiny phone company has come (as well as how far Samsung has fallen). Xiaomi ended up leading China's smartphone market last year with a 12.5 percent share of shipments, while Samsung came in second place with a 12.1 percent share. Sure, those numbers may make it seem like Xiaomi and Samsung are basically on the same level, but what's really important is how they've changed from 2013. Xiaomi's market share actually rose 186 percent last year, while Samsung's fell around 22 percent (and it was the only smartphone company among China's top five to fall). The Korean electronics giant was already facing slumping sales early last year, when we argued that China would likely be its next big opportunity for a comeback. But, from the looks of it, Xiaomi basically ended up eating Samsung's lunch.
Xiaomi used a trio of crustaceans for an unusual 'durability' test
Most cellphone makers do their durability testing in labs, but let's be honest: those trials can be kind of boring to watch. In an attempt to show just how tough its Mi 4 handset is, Xiaomi used a trio of sea creatures. The phone spent a few moments in the clutches of a freshwater crab, a Japanese blue crab and a lobster, with each getting a chance to clamp down on the 5-inch steel-framed device. The gadget endures the grip of the first two just fine, but company decided to leave us in suspense as to how the Mi 4 fared against the crustacean with the biggest claws. The fate of the testers isn't disclosed in the video either, but we'll assume someone had a nice seafood dinner. At any rate, take a look at the stunt on the other side of the break.
Xiaomi will tiptoe into the US by selling accessories, not phones
The world's most valuable startup (for now) is finally getting ready to sell stuff in the United States, just... maybe not the stuff you were expecting. At an intimate media gathering in San Francisco, Xiaomi global VP Hugo Barra revealed that the buzzy Chinese phone maker will start selling its low-cost fitness band (see above) and accessories like power banks and headphones to US customers through its Mi.com commerce site later this year. Here's the rub, though: Barra was quick to add that that neither the company's phones nor its tablets are making the leap into US waters just yet.
Daily Roundup: Google Glass, Xiaomi phones, 2015 expectations and more!
The Google Glass experiment is over, but that doesn't mean Glass is finished. Nest co-founder Tony Fadell will take the reigns as Google builds the next generation of its head-mounted display. Meanwhile, Xiaomi continues to make waves with its lineup of impressive hardware that look, well, suspiciously familiar. With CES finally behind us, we share some of the things we're looking forward to in 2015. All that and more in today's Daily Roundup!
