Xiaomi launches its supposedly iPhone 6 Plus wannabe today. But there’s something missing, as far as Malaysian fans are concerned. There isn’t any “Sold Out in 3 Seconds” announcement on its Facebook anymore. In fact, if you care to go visit their website, the RM1,549 a pop for their latest offering – Mi Note – is still available.

It was like only yesterday when online consumers took leave from work so that they could be the lucky one in queue to buy Xiaomi phones and power banks. It was the sight Xiaomi Malaysia loves to see – hundreds of disappointed young consumers eager to buy only to be greeted with “Out of Stock” message. Now, it seems, there’re tons of stocks.

 

So, was the marketing gimmick still working today? Has Xiaomi finally realised that putting a small amount of stocks but claiming a blow-out sales within seconds doesn’t work anymore? Or could it be due to market saturation? What about flushing outdated specifications while playing hard to get game? Perhaps it’s all of the above that its sales is disastrous.

Make no mistake about it. Xiaomi Mi Note 64GB is the closest you can get to own a replica of an iPhone 6 Plus, besides loading launchers from Android Play Store to simulate your Android phone to look like iOS. But if Facebook comments are any indicator, Mi Note is obviously a flop. There isn’t any crazy rush to buy the latest Mi Note.

 

Heck, Xiaomi Malaysia even partners with Uber in order to deliver Mi Note to your doorstep within minutes. Still, it fails to deliver the excitement and enthusiasm, unlike the real iPhone. Let’s look at what is under the hood. The latest gadget from Xiaomi comes with 3D curved Gorilla Glass 3 framed in aluminium, powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz.

It is also equipped with 5.7” Sharp/JDI Full HD display, 3GB RAM 64GB Flash, Sony 13MP camera f/2.0 with OIS, 4G Dual SIM (micro/nano), Dual Standby, 4MP front camera with large 2-micron pixels, 3000mAh lithium-ion battery, 1080 x 1920 pixels providing 386 ppi. So, what’s wrong with this masterpiece?

First of all, the price is obviously beyond the reach of Malaysian Xiaomi supporters. Get real, majority of Xiaomi worshippers are actually budget consumers. Those who can afford phablets without losing hairs comparing prices would have owned iPhone 6 Plus already. And those who couldn’t afford the luxury iPhone would have ended with Samsung, or other brands.

That brings us to the next reason – Mi Note was simply late to the Malaysian market, especially the 5.5inch – 5.7inch market. Xiaomi is neither a niche nor a branded product, unlike Apple. Hence, while Apple could play the catch-up game pretty easily in the phablet market after dominated by Samsung Note series, the same cannot be said about Xiaomi.

 

Thirdly, Xiaomi is another player in the over crowded Android market place. Sure, it has its own MIUI operating system, which again, is the closest you can get to iOS. Still, MIUI was built based on Android. And it doesn’t help that Mi4i demonstrates over-heating issue. Just bring along an egg to a service provider outlet and play Mi4i for 10 minutes. You can fried your egg thereafter (*grin*).

But Mi Note uses a different processor than Mi4i. Sure, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 was tested to be better than Snapdragon 810, but still nowhere near Snapdragon 815. The point is, why risk RM1,549 for a Mi Note when the over heating problem is still a question mark? For RM1,549, a budget user can burns two units of Mi4i.

 

Fourthly, it’s cheaper to get other brands such as Samsung Galaxy A7 (A8 is about to be launched). At Low Yat Plaza, you can get an A7 for RM1,335, about RM214 cheaper than Mi Note. Spotting the same resolution, A7 has higher pixel density at 401 ppi as compares to Mi Note’s 386 ppi, thanks to A7’s slightly smaller 5.5-inch screen. It has internal RAM at 2GB though.

Additionally, Galaxy A7 has expansion slot which could be used for a second SIM card or simply for another 64GB of storage. Throws in a Kingston 64GB microSD that cost RM83 and A7 has more storage than Mi Note. Both Mi Note and A7 have roughly same cameras – back and front. Does Mi Note really want to compete with Samsung’s Super AMOLED?

 

Even if Samsung Galaxy A7 is not your cup of tea, an OnePlus One can easily be another choice. In terms of specification, OnePlus has the same resolution with higher pixel resolution, same camera, same processor, same internal 3GB RAM 64GB Flash, same battery juice as Mi Note. And OnePlus One is selling for RM1,199 at Maxis without contract.

In fact, OnePlus One is like Mi Note’s cousin, the same way exoplanet Kepler-452b is to planet Earth. So, why would anyone spend RM1,549 on Mi Note? It would probably do well if Xiaomi cares to drop the price to about RM1,200. The only guy worth comparing is Mi Note Pro. But at an estimation price of RM1,850 a pop, you may want to wait for OnePlus Two, new Samsung models or even soon to-be-reduced-price iPhone 6.

 

Other Articles That May Interest You …

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• Look Who’s Complaining – CopyCat Xiaomi Bitching About Fakes
• Here’s Why Whistleblower Snowden Refuses To Use iPhone
• New Xiaomi Mi Note – It’s Samsung Note Killer, Not iPhone Killer
• Your Old iPhone 4 Could Be A GoldMine – Here’s Why
• Official – Both iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Are The Fastest Phone On Planet Earth
• Here’s How Xiaomi Secretly Steal Your Data For Chinese Govt, And How You Can Block It

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July 28th, 2015 by financetwitter

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