Following Huawei's strong showing with the P8, all eyes turned to Xiaomi.
Haifeng was no exception. After all, Lei Jun chose to launch the Xiaomi Note Series on the same day and simultaneously.
A bold move like that meant one thing: he believed in the product. And sure enough, Haifeng understood exactly what Lei Jun was going for once the conference started.
The phone was strong, but the real takeaway wasn't the device. It was integration. The Xiaomi Note was a textbook "all-rounder." Not flashy. Not cutting-edge in a single category. But extremely well-balanced across the board.
Specs-wise, it didn't disappoint:
Chip: Qualcomm Snapdragon 815
Display: 6.1-inch 2K panel from China Star Optoelectronics
Cameras: 12MP front + 24MP rear (Samsung sensor)
Battery: 3200 mAh
Every part of the build reflected elite supplier coordination. And that was the real win for Xiaomi—supply chain finesse.
They'd pulled together top-tier parts at scale from screen to chip to sensor to case. No other in the domestic market could match that kind of vertical control except China Star.
But even so, Haifeng saw the cracks. The back cover hadn't changed. Still bland. Still blocky. No full-screen design, unlike the Harmony S2 or Huawei's P8.
A few specs were great, but lacked the "wow factor." It felt... safe. Powerful, but conservative.
And then came the pricing:
3+32GB – ¥2799 (≈ $386)
3+64GB – ¥3199 (≈ $441)
3+128GB – ¥3399 (≈ $469)
In a vacuum, these were good numbers. Affordable for the power on offer. But compared to the P8? Huawei's P8 started at ¥3299 (≈ $454) and peaked at ¥3999 (≈ $551). Xiaomi was cheaper, but not by a considerable margin.
Haifeng nodded.
This wasn't a misstep. It was a deliberate play. Xiaomi wasn't trying to undercut Huawei anymore. They were aiming beside them—same tier, different strengths.
But the real surprise? It wasn't the phone. It was what came next.
Xiaomi launched two new devices alongside the Note:
Mi Band 1 – A fitness tracker with simple functions and ultra-low price.
Xiaomi Smart TV – A full 32-inch LCD smart TV with internet connectivity, priced at just ¥1499 (≈ $207).
That was dirt cheap. At a time when most 32-inch LCDs sold for ¥2500–¥3000, Xiaomi was offering an internet-ready model for half the price. No need for an external TV box. One unit. Plug and play.
Haifeng narrowed his eyes.
This was it. Lei Jun wasn't just launching products—he was laying the foundation. Xiaomi's real play was the ecosystem. Phones, TVs, wearables... all under one brand, all tightly integrated. And Lei Jun had the edge. He wasn't just a founder but a seasoned angel investor with deep ties across industries.
Xiaomi had already invested in dozens of companies. They had the talent and capital to spin up hardware partners like nobody else.
Meanwhile, China Star had cash, but not the network. Their ecosystem was still a blank page. And if Haifeng didn't act soon, that page would stay empty.
In the final sales analysis:
Xiaomi Note: Just over 1 million units sold in its first week.
Huawei P8: Around 700,000 online + 1.2 million offline sales.
Not bad for either. But the hype hadn't sparked a buying frenzy. The Chinese market had just come off a brutal September–November flagship war. Consumer fatigue was setting in.
The market was tired.
But the message was clear:
Ecosystems win wars. And Xiaomi had just made its first significant move.
T/N[1]
[1] Does this sentence structure make the chapter look cleaner?