Xiaomi claims it will surpass Samsung and Apple within a decade

Just a few weeks after Xiaomi surpassed Huawei and LG to become the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer, the founder and CEO of the Chinese electronics giant, Leo Jun, has predicted that, within a decade, his company will overtake Samsung and Apple to become the single largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, according to Android Headlines.

“I believe that no one thought the Xiaomi from three years ago, which just made its first phone, would later rank as the third largest player,” Lei said at China’s World Internet Conference, as quoted by The Guardian. “India is becoming our largest overseas market. Within five or 10 years, we have the opportunity to become the number one smartphone company in the world.”

“It is easy to say, it is much more difficult to do,” said Bruce Sewell, Apple senior vice president, on Thursday at China’s World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, as quoted by Computer World. Robert Yu, senior vice president at Samsung, had a similar response, saying: “They have created a good user experience that caters for the needs of Chinese consumers, but I don’t know if it will work outside of China.”

In just a few short years, Xiaomi has become known as the “Apple of China,” although this title might not be due to how popular the Chinese smartphone manufacturer’s products are. Rather, the company has been called out numerous times for blatantly copying both the look and feel of Apple’s products with its more affordable Mi-branded devices, accusations which it refutes.

“I’ll stand a little bit harsh, I don’t see it as flattery,” said Apple design boss Jony Ive when asked about Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, described as “the Apple of China” in an interview with Vanity Fair. “When you’re doing something for the first time, you don’t know it’s gonna work. You spend seven or eight years working on something, and then it’s copied. I think it is really straightforward. It is theft and it is lazy. I don’t think it is OK at all.”