As global smartphone shipments contract, the losses become unbearable for manufacturers like Xiaomi, who have to compete in a crazy tough market, while Apple enjoys all the spoils with the highest profit margin collection. The Chinese phone maker started out by making budget phones with competitive price tags, and to have a head start in this area again, one rumor claims that it is bringing more flagship camera features to mid-range devices.
Xiaomi also aims to use higher quality panels in these mid-range smartphones
As of Q1 2023, Xiaomi's global smartphone share has fallen from 13 percent to 11 percent, but according to @korean_riceball on the newly revamped social media platform X, it has a plan to regain lost shipments by giving mid-range smartphones new flagship camera features. As the demand for phones decreases, the premium range suffers enormously as these cost the most and given how vastly improved phones have become in the last couple of years, annual upgrades can no longer be justified.
Xiaomi's ability to create flagship smartphones cannot be questioned, as its top-tier 13 Ultra was a testament to how far these companies have come, but as usual, these devices only make sense if there are millions of customers behind them. According to the details shared on the microblogging site, Xiaomi's mid-range smartphones are said to feature 200MP cameras, along with larger sensor sizes to mitigate the diminishing returns of using high-megapixel hardware with smaller sensors.
On top of that, the main camera is rumored to be complemented by another large sensor that supports 4x optical zoom. Although the majority of readers do not think that a 4x zoom level is a significant improvement, remember that the iPhone 14 Pro Max, a flagship that sells for $1,099 in the US, is limited to 3x optical zoom, so on paper, users will get an additional zoom level to take pictures or record video.
Xiaomi also aims to bring improvements in battery capacity by using 5000 mAh cells that support 120W fast charging. While we don't prefer pumping massive amounts of watts into a smartphone's battery, as it would have harmful long-term effects, that's the company's rumored decision. Another area that manufacturers skimp on to save costs is the screen. The post claims that these future mid-range phones will also come with a "unique curved screen design" that produces "sharp and vivid" images.
Unfortunately, no specific smartphone model was mentioned in the post, so while Xiaomi has a decent strategy in place to increase shipments, we can only compare the results when these devices actually launch. Hopefully, the company's work with the smartphone's software will be just as impressive.
No Comments