# Xiaomi is now the fifth largest smartphone vendor in the world



## editor (Aug 1, 2014)

They're not exactly a household name but according to Strategy Analytics, the Chinese vendor, sold 26 million devices in the first half of 2014 and has now bagged 5.1 percent of the worldwide smartphone market.

The same study saw Android claiming an 85% share of the world market. 












http://www.androidcentral.com/xiaomi-becomes-fifth-largest-smartphone-vendor-world


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## Callum91 (Aug 1, 2014)

But do they make good phones?


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## editor (Aug 1, 2014)

Callum91 said:


> But do they make good phones?


You generally don't get to be the fifth biggest in a massively competitive market unless you've got some idea where the bit all go together.


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## Fez909 (Aug 1, 2014)

"Vendor"? yuck*. 

Wouldn't manufacturer be a better term?

*I know _technically _vendor is accurate


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## Callum91 (Aug 1, 2014)

editor said:


> You generally don't get to be the fifth biggest in a massively competitive market unless you've got some idea where the bit all go together.


Blackberry can make a phone. Would I buy one? No. I guess what I meant was ''Do they make phones good enough to make me want to buy one over X,Y or Z.''


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## dweller (Aug 4, 2014)

I used to have the MIUI version of android on my old HTC phone and I liked it a lot.
Nice and slick with lots of quite well designed themes you could apply.
The UI system is used on all the xiaomi phones as far as I know.
I'd be interested if some of their phones started to be made for the UK market.


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## pesh (Aug 4, 2014)

editor said:


> You generally don't get to be the fifth biggest in a massively competitive market unless you've got some idea where the bit all go together.


Samsung have made it to no.1 without having a fucking clue.


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## editor (Aug 4, 2014)

pesh said:


> Samsung have made it to no.1 without having a fucking clue.


Well apart from their smartphones regularly being regarded as some of the very best money can buy.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 4, 2014)




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## editor (Oct 30, 2014)

Scrub that - they're now the THIRD largest smartphone manufacturer in the world!
http://www.androidcentral.com/xiaomi-now-third-largest-smartphone-manufacturer-world


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

Has anyone checked out their ethical background when it comes to manufacturing?


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## editor (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> Has anyone checked out their ethical background when it comes to manufacturing?


Does that have any impact does on your buying choices?


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

editor said:


> Does that have any impact does on your buying choices?



It doesn't seem to have any impact on anyone's buying choices.

But as a Chinese company, I imagine they're producing products in China? And I can imagine that the factories are really quite dire.


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## editor (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> It doesn't seem to have any impact on anyone's buying choices.
> 
> But as a Chinese company, I imagine they're producing products in China? And I can imagine that the factories are really quite dire.


I doubt they'll be any better or worse than the factories where shiny iPhones and Samsung products are created.


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## maomao (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> But as a Chinese company, I imagine they're producing products in China? And I can imagine that the factories are really quite dire.


Apple, Huawei, Samsung, LG, Nokia and Lenovo also have factories in China (Samsung are in process of moving to Vietnam but I doubt they're in search of better conditions for their workers). Blackberries are assembled in Mexico and Canada but are crammed with parts made in China. I don't see what makes Xiaomi different in this respect at all.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

maomao said:


> Apple, Huawei, Samsung, LG, Nokia and Lenovo also have factories in China (Samsung are in process of moving to Vietnam but I doubt they're in search of better conditions for their workers). Blackberries are assembled in Mexico and Canada but are crammed with parts made in China. I don't see what makes Xiaomi different in this respect at all.



That most companies who are European based will have more pressure put on them to keep a check on factory conditions. A Chinese company operating out Chinese factories predominantly selling to Asian and Chinese consumers I doubt will have the same pressure.

I'm just wary of kind of saying "wow look how well this tech company has done" until you know about background. That's something urban has taught me


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## maomao (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> That most companies who are European based will have more pressure put on them to keep a check on factory conditions. A Chinese company operating out Chinese factories predominantly selling to Asian and Chinese consumers I doubt will have the same pressure.



You've just made that up so I'll ignore it other than to point out two of the other companies listed above them are Chinese and it's Apple that have had all the shit about their working conditions. In reality factory conditions are more likely to be determined by geographical location. I'd much rather work in Lenovo's Beijing factory than Apple's place in Shenzhen.


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## editor (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> That most companies who are European based will have more pressure put on them to keep a check on factory conditions.


Really? I don't see queues of Apple fanboys lined up outside their shiny stores demanding better conditions for the workers. Or Samsung or any of the others. It's only a tiny amount of activists who seem to give much of a fuck.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

editor said:


> Really? I don't see queues of Apple fanboys lined up outside their shiny stores demanding better conditions for the workers. Or Samsung or any of the others. It's only a tiny amount of activists who seem to give much of a fuck.



I didn't say there was queues of fanboys outside of the shop demanding a change in workers conditions.

Is there really such a need to be so reactionary against anyone who has a slightly different thought train?

I'm not going to get into an argument over what is essentially a mobile phone. Some of us have iPhones, some of us have samsungs, some of us have nokias..... The one thing in common is that they're all made in shit conditions, yet we still buy them.


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## editor (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> I didn't say there was queues of fanboys outside of the shop demanding a change in workers conditions.
> 
> Is there really such a need to be so reactionary against anyone who has a slightly different thought train?
> 
> I'm not going to get into an argument over what is essentially a mobile phone. Some of us have iPhones, some of us have samsungs, some of us have nokias..... The one thing in common is that they're all made in shit conditions, yet we still buy them.


Indeed, but where is the evidence of "European based" companies giving any more of a shit about workers' conditions?


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## littlebabyjesus (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> That most companies who are European based will have more pressure put on them to keep a check on factory conditions. A Chinese company operating out Chinese factories predominantly selling to Asian and Chinese consumers I doubt will have the same pressure.


Without evidence, that's just prejudice, tbf.


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## Lazy Llama (Nov 5, 2014)

If anyone is _really_ concerned more about workers rights than having the latest shiny screen/processor combo that has been pushed at them by advertising they will be buying a Fairphone (see previous thread) rather than an Apple, Samsung or Xiaomi phone.

But they've only sold 53,000 phones so I guess there aren't that many people who know/care.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Without evidence, that's just prejudice, tbf.



It's not prejudice at all. The economy in China has go through huge upheaval in the last decade or so, by the nature of doing so people who will be able to afford more luxury goods will buy them blindly. Even in stable economies it's only just now that anyone is really starting to say anything as pointed out by ed.

The factories I went to, which were specifically open to tourists, I wouldn't want anyone working in.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

Lazy Llama said:


> But they've only sold 53,000 phones so I guess there aren't that many people who know/care.


Oops, I'd read it as 53,000,000

I thought that was a lot of phones


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## littlebabyjesus (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> It's not prejudice at all. The economy in China has go through huge upheaval in the last decade or so, by the nature of doing so people who will be able to afford more luxury goods will buy them blindly. Even in stable economies it's only just now that anyone is really starting to say anything as pointed out by ed.
> .


It is not the benevolence of western consumers that is improving conditions in China. It is Chinese workers organising and striking for better conditions. That goes for all companies there.


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## maomao (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> It's not prejudice at all. The economy in China has go through huge upheaval in the last decade or so, by the nature of doing so people who will be able to afford more luxury goods will buy them blindly.


That _is_ prejudice. You're basically saying Chinese people will buy any old shit cause they don't know any better. What impact that has on whether workers fare better working for factories that manufacture for domestic markets or for ones that manufacture for foreign markets is anyone's guess, your statement is entirely irrelevant to the discussion so far.

Anecdotally, the opposite is true, the real cheap factories have shifted to countries with even lower regulation like Bangladesh and Chinese factories are making enough money from domestic contracts that they're not biting off each others' hands to get foreign business anymore.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

maomao said:


> That _is_ prejudice. You're basically saying Chinese people will buy any old shit cause they don't know any better. What impact that has on whether workers fare better working for factories that manufacture for domestic markets or for ones that manufacture for foreign markets is anyone's guess, your statement is entirely irrelevant to the discussion so far.
> 
> Anecdotally, the opposite is true, the real cheap factories have shifted to countries with even lower regulation like Bangladesh and Chinese factories are making enough money from domestic contracts that they're not biting off each others' hands to get foreign business anymore.



That's not what I intended to mean. What I mean to imply is that the push towards better working conditions probably wouldn't come this early in their massive economic growth. Of course I'm not saying all people from China will buy any old shit.....


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## littlebabyjesus (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> That's not what I intended to mean. What I mean to imply is that the push towards better working conditions probably wouldn't come this early in their massive economic growth. Of course I'm not saying all people from China will buy any old shit.....


Can you point to a large-scale example of some place or time where working conditions were improved as a result of consumer action? I can't think of any - it has always been bottom-up pressure from workers that has produced change.

My thinking on this is kind of the opposite of yours - external pressure from foreign companies hell-bent on squeezing out every penny of saving keeping conditions abysmal in factories. And always the threat to leave for somewhere _even cheaper_ in the background.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Can you point to a large-scale example of some place or time where working conditions were improved as a result of consumer action? I can't think of any - it has always been bottom-up pressure from workers that has produced change.
> 
> My thinking on this is kind of the opposite of yours - external pressure from foreign companies hell-bent on squeezing out every penny of saving keeping conditions abysmal in factories. And always the threat to leave for somewhere _even cheaper_ in the background.



Didn't most of the major sportswear brands improve their working conditions after a push from consumers? 

Of course the agreements were made with unions and workers, but I'd always thought that a general improvement was really pushed for by consumers. Although I was young when I remember hearing about this on the news.

Taking your point into consideration are you suggesting that consumers asking for an improvement in workers conditions is basically a waste of time?


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## littlebabyjesus (Nov 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> Taking your point into consideration are you suggesting that consumers asking for an improvement in workers conditions is basically a waste of time?


No, but being realistic about the difference we can make, we are all locked in to an exploitative system. The computer I'm writing this on, the clothes I'm keeping warm in, the e-fag I've just puffed on - they were all made in exploitative conditions. And past successes of consumer-led drives to improve things have been limited. I don't have good answers, except to say that the main power behind improving things in China will come from Chinese people, not us. In many cases, improvements may come in spite of us. And in our society, 'ethical consumption' is only really an option for the relatively rich, and they're the last people who will effect real change.

ETA: But I would point to our own history here. Did the appalling factory conditions of early Industrial Revolution Britain improve as a result of pressure from the bourgeoisie consumer classes? No. Quite the reverse - such classes were, taken as a whole, a major obstacle to reform.


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## sim667 (Nov 5, 2014)

littlebabyjesus said:


> No, but being realistic about the difference we can make, we are all locked in to an exploitative system. The computer I'm writing this on, the clothes I'm keeping warm in, the e-fag I've just puffed on - they were all made in exploitative conditions. And past successes of consumer-led drives to improve things have been limited. I don't have good answers, except to say that the main power behind improving things in China will come from Chinese people, not us. In many cases, improvements may come in spite of us. And in our society, 'ethical consumption' is only really an option for the relatively rich, and they're the last people who will effect real change.
> 
> ETA: But I would point to our own history here. Did the appalling factory conditions of early Industrial Revolution Britain improve as a result of pressure from the bourgeoisie consumer classes? No. Quite the reverse - such classes were, taken as a whole, a major obstacle to reform.



I think we're singing to the same tune from different hymn books basically.

I do think consumer pressure does help in a more modern era though. It certainly did with the sweatshops and the sportswear brands as far as I can remember. The issues from the early industrial revolution were different as the the bourgeoisie rarely came into contact with the working classes, the didn't have the Internet and mass media like we do today.


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## editor (Jul 2, 2015)

Look out Apple and Samsung!

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has announced that it sold nearly 35 million handsets in the first six months of 2015, a year-on-year increase of 33 percent. (Xiaomi)


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## stupid kid (Jul 10, 2015)

Xiaomi's new flagship for this year is supposed to be a 5.1mm phone with all the fanciest chips and such. They already have a 7mm competitor to the Note, called the Mi Note. 

I wonder if Blu will also begin to rise up in the ranks, they have (here in the US) a 5.1mm phone for $150! Reviews say the custom android software is piss poor but the package it comes in is nice. Naturally at that price it's not high end. And they have 5000mah phone for about the same price. They also make what seems to be a cheapish HTC One clone for Windows. Had never heard of them until I wandered into a MS store the other day and thought they were Nokias until I looked closer.


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