Last week, Xiaomi became the focus of the market in the first quarter with a "double Ultra" press conference. As a gift for the 15th anniversary of Xiaomi's founding, Xiaomi 15 Ultra debuts at a starting price of 6499 yuan, with Leica image, Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition chip, 6000mAh super battery life and other hard-core configurations, aiming at the high-end market.
This product, which Lei Jun called "five-year high-end exploration answer", not only represents the concentrated explosion of Xiaomi's technical strength, but also reflects the profound changes in the competitive pattern of the smartphone industry.
|Break the image ceiling again
Xiaomi unveiled the highly anticipated Xiaomi 15 at its latest launch event Ultra, this phone is not only equipped with Leica's professional quad-camera system, but also brings a number of technological innovations, demonstrating Xiaomi's relentless pursuit of the ultimate user experience. Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi Group, declared domineeringly at the scene: "Let friends Ultra no longer be worthy of being called Ultra", which is not only a challenge to competitors, but also to Xiaomi 15 A confident demonstration of Ultra's powerful performance.
Innovations in imaging systems
Xiaomi 15 Ultra is equipped with Sony's 1-inch LYT900 main camera, a 200-million-pixel Samsung HP9 periscope telephoto (supporting 28x lossless zoom), and dual 50-million-pixel ultra-wide-angle and mid-focus lenses, forming a "pocket big ternary" without breaking the focal range. Among them, the "Night God" mode achieves a significant improvement in the performance of night scenes in all focal lengths through the coordination of ultra-large aperture and algorithms. In addition, the dynamic AI portrait wallpaper feature relies on the second-generation portrait model, which can render light, shadow and expressions in real time, breaking through the boundaries of traditional static wallpapers. And ACES For the first time, LOG cinematic video has achieved professional-grade color management on mobile phones, lowering the threshold for dynamic video post-production.
The pinnacle of performance and battery life
In terms of performance, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra uses a high-end combination of Snapdragon 8 Ultra chip, LPDDR5X and UFS4.0, and works with Xiaomi's self-developed annular cold pump cooling system to ensure extreme smoothness in gaming and multitasking scenarios. The 6000mAh GSR battery (10% silicon, 90% ≥capacity after 1000 cycles), with 90W wired/80W wireless fast charging, further eliminates the "battery life anxiety" of the Android flagship. This configuration combination is obviously aimed at benchmarking the battery life shortcomings of the iPhone, showing the advantages of the domestic Android flagship in terms of battery life.
Strategic transformation from hardware benchmarking to cross-platform ecological integration
Xiaomi 15 Not only does the Ultra excel in terms of performance and image performance, but more importantly, this flagship model marks Xiaomi's shift from pure hardware competition to deep integration of cross-platform ecosystems. This strategic transformation not only enhances the competitiveness of Xiaomi's products, but also provides users with a more seamless experience.
Strategic shift: Deep compatibility with the Apple ecosystem
Xiaomi 15 Ultra's most striking strategic shift is that it has achieved deep compatibility with the Apple ecosystem for the first time. The new "Cross-Account LAN Transfer" feature allows users to seamlessly transfer files directly to iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, breaking the ecological barrier between Android and iOS. Although this approach is not the first of its kind to Xiaomi (OPPO has previously implemented similar features), Xiaomi's strategic significance is more far-reaching.
The core of the ecosystem: people-car-home
Xiaomi's smartphones are not just a single consumer electronics, but a core component of the entire "people-car-home" ecosystem. By breaking down the boundaries with Apple's ecosystem, Xiaomi aims to compete for the stock market of high-end users, especially those iPhone users who are considering changing their phones but are worried about the cost of switching. Through the "painless migration" feature, Xiaomi reduces the cost of users switching from the Apple ecosystem to the Xiaomi ecosystem, thereby attracting more potential users.
Competitive Advantage & Differentiation
Compared to its competitors, Xiaomi's strategy is more forward-looking. Although other manufacturers have also achieved compatibility with the Apple ecosystem, they are often limited to a limited number of single products and have not formed a complete ecosystem. Xiaomi, for its part, uses smartphones as an entry point into the broader ecosystem through its "people-car-home" strategy. This means that when Apple users choose Xiaomi phones, they are actually entering a more comprehensive ecosystem that covers multiple areas such as smart homes and smart cars.
Two layers of strategic intent
Build an open ecological discourse: through reverse osmosis of compatible protocols, it provides a new voice for Xiaomi cars (such as SU7 Ultra) and smart home and other ecological products pave the way. This not only strengthens the attractiveness of the Xiaomi ecosystem, but also lays the foundation for future product line expansion.
Reshape the logic of industry competition and cooperation: it is no longer limited to the involution competition between domestic manufacturers, but directly competes with Apple for the status of "ecological definer". This strategic upgrade has enabled Xiaomi to stand at a higher level of the industry and become a leader rather than a follower in the industry.
How to go about the high-end strategy?
Since February 2024, Xiaomi's share price has continued to rise from a low of HK$13, especially in the second half of the year, with significant monthly increases, and officially entered the trillion market value club on February 9, 2025. This achievement is not only due to the benefits brought by Xiaomi's automotive business, but also inseparable from the successful implementation of its high-end mobile phone strategy.
Ivan, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Lam pointed out that Xiaomi's strategy in the premium segment has been very successful, with product lines covering multiple market segments, from the Xiaomi digital series to the Pro, Ultra and foldable models. Due to the long-term cultivation of a user base of different price segments, Xiaomi's performance in the high-end market is particularly prominent. Especially in the market above $600, Xiaomi has become one of the best domestic brands, second only to Huawei.
According to the data, Huawei's market share in the global smartphone market of more than $600 will drop from 9% in 2020 to 7% in 2024, while Xiaomi, as a new entrant, will gain about 1% of the share. In the Chinese market, according to Canalys, Xiaomi's market share in the $600-plus segment increased to 6% in the fourth quarter of 2024 from 5% in the same period last year, and shipments increased 4% year-on-year to 1.5 million units, second only to Apple and Huawei.
Despite the remarkable progress it has made, Xiaomi still faces many challenges in the future, especially the balance between costs and profits. Judging from the financial reports of the two quarters of Q2 and Q3 in 2024, although Xiaomi's overall revenue has resumed growth, with a year-on-year growth rate of about 30%, the growth rate of gross profit and adjusted net profit is lower than the growth rate of revenue. For example, gross profit and adjusted net profit growth rates were 17.2% and 4.4%, respectively, in Q3 last year.
Specifically, the cost of sales increased by about 19 billion yuan, mainly due to the increase in sales of automobiles and mobile phones and the increase in the cost of core components of mobile phones; R&D expenses and sales and promotion expenses increased by about $1.0 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, mainly for the sales and promotion of automobiles and the logistics expenses of mobile phones XAIoT (Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things).
