Verspricht man sich, Apple als "kostengünstige Alternative" zu dienen? Der Anfangspreis des Xiaomi 17 Pro ist um 4.000 Yuan niedriger als der des iPhone 17 Pro, und der des Pro Max in der Spitzenausstattung ist um 11.000 Yuan niedriger.

Lei Jun, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi, who is "in the prime of his adventurous years," completed his sixth annual speech this year.

In the first half, he shared the stories behind Xiaomi's Xuanjie chip and Xiaomi cars. He said that he was "filled with indescribable anxiety" five years ago. He believed that in the industry Xiaomi is in, "Apple, Samsung, and Huawei are like insurmountable mountains, and there seemed to be little hope of catching up. Should we just give up and accept our fate, or should we keep fighting?"

However, judging from the second - half press conference, Lei Jun today seems to have shed such thoughts. "Compared with iPhone 17..." This was the half - sentence Lei Jun said most often when launching Xiaomi 17. From the chip, battery life, screen to photography, Lei Jun would always bring up Apple for comparison when introducing almost every function of the new phone.

Lei Jun said that Xiaomi launched the high - endization of its mobile phone business five years ago and has been officially benchmarking against Apple since then. Why choose Apple? Lei Jun responded in a video released on September 24 that companies like Apple, Porsche, and Tesla are the number - one players in their respective fields. "Only by benchmarking against the best, learning from the best, can we eventually surpass the best."

And Xiaomi 17 is the result of Xiaomi's years of efforts in the mobile phone terminal. According to Lei Jun, the standard version of Xiaomi 17 is the most powerful small - sized all - around flagship in Xiaomi's history. "All the details are as exquisite as those of the iPhone," Lei Jun said.

Source: Screenshot from Lei Jun's official account

The standard version of Xiaomi 17 has a 6.3 - inch screen, is 8.06 mm thick, and weighs 191g. It is the world's first to be equipped with Qualcomm's latest processor, the fifth - generation Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition, using the latest third - generation 3nm process. The CPU adopts an octa - core architecture, the super - large core uses the third - generation ARM architecture, and the main frequency reaches 4.6 GHz. Lei Jun said that this is the highest main frequency that a mobile phone SoC can currently reach. Whether it's multi - core or single - core performance, it can rival Apple's latest A19 Pro processor, and its GPU performance far exceeds that of the A19 Pro. In addition, the battery life of Xiaomi 17 is a 7000mAh battery, almost twice that of the iPhone 17 (3692mAh).

"Our standard version of Xiaomi 17 is actually planned to be on par with the iPhone 17 Pro, that is, its performance is close to that of the iPhone 17 Pro," Lei Jun said.

As for the upgraded models of the Xiaomi 17 series, Lei Jun didn't use the Pro and Ultra names as in previous years. Instead, like the iPhone 17, he designed two models, one large and one small, namely the Xiaomi 17 Pro and the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max.

The biggest feature of the Xiaomi 17 Pro series is a customized "Magic Sharing Rear Screen". The Xiaomi 17 Pro is 8mm thick, weighs 192g, and has a battery life of 6300mAh. The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max has a 6.9 - inch straight screen, is also 8mm thick, and weighs 219g.

In terms of price, the starting price of the Xiaomi 17 standard version is 4499 yuan, the Xiaomi 17 Pro starts at 4999 yuan, and the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max starts at 5999 yuan. Compared with the similar models of Apple's iPhone 17 series, the prices are 1500 yuan, 4000 yuan, and 4000 yuan lower respectively.

Actually, the top - end version of the Xiaomi 17 series is priced at 6999 yuan. In the iPhone 17 series, the 2TB version of the Pro Max is priced as high as 17,999 yuan. By comparison, the top - end version of the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max is up to about 11000 yuan cheaper than the top - end version of the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Pre - orders for the entire Xiaomi 17 series have started and will be officially on sale at 10:00 on September 27.

In addition, Lei Jun also released a magnetic power bank that is compatible with all models of the iPhone 17. "We'll do what Apple doesn't. If there are any Apple users here, you can make your wishes here," Lei Jun joked.

Lei Jun's ambition to benchmark against Apple goes beyond products. In terms of the ecosystem, Xiaomi chooses to be close to and compatible with Apple and interconnects with the Apple ecosystem. For users who own both Xiaomi and Apple phones, they can view and even reply to notifications from their Xiaomi phones on the iPhone, and vice versa.

In terms of core technologies such as self - developed chips, Lei Jun is determined to "invest at least 50 billion yuan over ten years" in chip - making, which is also influenced by companies like Apple.

Lei Jun said in his speech that chips are the inevitable path for Xiaomi to achieve success. After research, they found that both Apple and Huawei entered the market from the high - end segment. No mobile phone company has entered the SoC market from the low - end. Only by targeting the high - end can there be a glimmer of hope. This laid the general direction for his subsequent chip - making strategy.

Haitong Securities believes that Xiaomi's chip - making is an important step in narrowing the gap with Apple. The ecosystem built by Apple over the years based on self - developed chips, self - developed operating systems (iOS), and algorithms is an important moat for brand manufacturers. Self - developed chips are an important step for brand manufacturers, including Xiaomi, to build an independent ecosystem.

Data from market research firm IDC shows that in the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2025, Xiaomi ranked third in terms of market share, only behind Samsung and Apple. Specifically, Xiaomi's global shipments in the second quarter were 42.5 million units, a year - on - year increase of 0.6%, with a market share of 14.4%; Apple's shipments were 46.4 million units, a year - on - year increase of 1.5%, with a market share of 15.7%. The gap between the two has become quite small.

In the Chinese market, Xiaomi ranked fourth this quarter, shipping 10.4 million units with a market share of 15.2%. It was the only manufacturer among the top five with a year - on - year increase and has surpassed Apple, which ranked fifth.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Times Finance APP" (ID: tf - app), author: Guo Meiting, editor: Lin Mingming. It is published by 36Kr with permission.