Fully benchmarking against Apple: Lei Jun's inferiority and confidence

"As you all know, the reason we named it Xiaomi 17 is that it's incredibly powerful. Of course, some netizens suggested whether we should name it Xiaomi 18. But we decided to be more cautious."

Before Lei Jun's sixth annual speech, there had already been quite a stir because Xiaomi's latest flagship skipped the number 16 and was directly named Xiaomi 17. At that time, everyone was speculating about how Lei Jun, the well - recognized "most marketing - savvy product manager", would handle this public opinion situation.

Unexpectedly, on the evening of September 25th, Lei Jun's answer was to "confront head - on". He responded to the outside world's doubts about the new product's naming by comparing comprehensive parameters and user experiences.

Facing this move, Xiaomi fans gave their thumbs up, believing that Lei Jun's action demonstrated Xiaomi's confidence and strength. They thought Xiaomi dared to face the doubts directly and speak with facts. However, opponents still stuck to their opinions, believing that Xiaomi's move was just "trying too hard". They thought the phone should have been named Xiaomi 16, and naming it Xiaomi 17 was a bit of a low - brow move...

The ultimate market feedback is the standard to test all benchmarking measures. At 10 a.m. on September 27th, the Xiaomi 17 series was launched across all channels, directly breaking the first - sale record of domestic mobile phones in 2025. Among them, the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, which was highly recommended by Lei Jun, broke the full - price - range first - day sales volume and sales revenue records of domestic mobile phones this year, accounting for over 50% of the sales volume in the Xiaomi 17 series.

It seems that this time, Lei Jun and Xiaomi have "won big" again.

Do real strong players disdain to benchmark?

Let's rewind the time to more than ten days ago. When Lu Weibing posted the words "See the Xiaomi 17 series this month" on Weibo on September 15th, all the previous pre - heating and discussions about "Xiaomi 16" suddenly stopped, as if they had all become a silent farce.

All kinds of speculations, inferences, and even malicious slurs filled the Internet for a while. Some people said, "Changing the name can only target the low - end market", believing that Xiaomi's move was devaluing itself. Some people said, "As a real Xiaomi fan, I'm really sad about this name. I personally think it shows a lack of self - perseverance and confidence", expressing doubts about Xiaomi's brand image. Others said, "My first impression is a lack of confidence rather than more confidence. I suggest changing it to Xiaomi 26 to comprehensively surpass", sharply criticizing Xiaomi's naming strategy...

Considering the psychology of these users, they believe that the act of skipping 16 and naming the new product Xiaomi 17 is a denial of Xiaomi's own brand power, because real industry leaders disdain to benchmark against any brand. Always comparing oneself with others actually reveals a lack of confidence.

The name change of the new flagship has caused dissatisfaction among some fans

This psychology is particularly obvious among some loyal fans. They expect Xiaomi to lead the industry in a more calm and domineering way, rather than creating topics through a name change. As one fan commented, "Back then, Xiaomi 8 was for the 8th anniversary. Now, you want to benchmark and change it to 17. You've been benchmarking all your life and chasing all your life. Can you just be yourself? I really don't understand this skipping."

After the incident fermented, many people delved into Xiaomi's name - changing strategy at the level of its marketing strategy. Some media pointed out that this move, seemingly a bold and risky attempt, actually contains Xiaomi's accurate judgment of market trends and its own development.

In the current highly competitive mobile phone market, all major brands are seeking breakthroughs and innovations to attract consumers' attention. Xiaomi's choice to launch new products in such a highly topical way will undoubtedly stand out among many brands, trigger extensive social discussions, and achieve a unique marketing effect.

From a marketing perspective, this naming strategy successfully diverts consumers' attention from the regular parameters of the product itself, guiding them to think about the deeper meaning behind Xiaomi's move. It's equivalent to creating suspense and topics to accumulate a large amount of attention and popularity for the new product before its release.

The popularity brought by the name - changing incident

When Lei Jun responded to the doubts by comparing comprehensive parameters and user experiences at the new product launch after the annual speech, all these topics and discussions finally found their footing. And the many advantages and features of the new product began to be presented to consumers in a highly impactful way.

Looking at Lei Jun's previous marketing achievements, whether it's Xiaomi phones or Xiaomi cars, he can always accurately capture the market pulse and push the products to the forefront of the limelight in a creative and topical way.

For example, on October 31st, 2024, when the Xiaomi 15 series was officially launched, the sales volume exceeded 1 million units in less than 10 days. This achievement is inseparable from Xiaomi's previous promotion of the product's performance, as well as the influence of the Xiaomi brand and the layout of offline stores. On February 27th, 2025, when the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra was released, the order volume exceeded 10,000 in 2 hours. Behind this was Xiaomi's marketing through the lap - time results at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which gained more than 12 billion exposures on platforms like Douyin and Weibo.

This time, when launching the new flagship mobile phone, although Xiaomi seemed to be following its usual marketing model, it actually touched a nerve with many people, and even led to doubts about Xiaomi's consistent marketing - focused approach.

After all, this naming method and the highly topical claim of "comprehensively benchmarking against Apple", although they can attract attention in the short term, in the long run, this benchmarking - style marketing may solidify the brand perception of Xiaomi as a "chaser" rather than establish an independent image of a technology leader. There is a possibility that it will have a negative impact on Xiaomi's brand image.

The confidence of "spending five years to forge a sword"

When Lei Jun was making his annual summary, he mentioned Xiaomi's journey to the high - end market. He said that when facing various doubts, criticisms, and even attacks on the Internet, the way he found to break the deadlock was to "continuously invest in core underlying technologies and firmly transform from an Internet company into a hardcore technology company".

Looking at Xiaomi today: in terms of sales volume, its mobile phones have long been among the "top three in the world", and its cars have achieved great success right from the start; in terms of brand popularity, it has always been high; in terms of technological accumulation, it is second to none among domestic mobile phone brands; in terms of ecological layout, it has built an almost unique "car - home - person" system globally... It can be seen that although the path to the high - end market has been bumpy, Xiaomi's steps are firm.

So, is it really necessary for Xiaomi to follow the rhythm of its competitors even when naming its new flagship phone?

In the eyes of many, for a company with all - around strength and great development potential to make such a controversial choice is quite puzzling, leading people to sigh, "At the time when it should be most confident, it chose the most self - deprecating approach."

However, from another perspective, perhaps Xiaomi and Lei Jun's move is not out of self - deprecation, but rather out of confidence.

"Five years ago, we started the high - end transformation of our mobile phone business and officially began to benchmark against Apple. After five years of hard work, we have made great progress. The standard version of the annual blockbuster product, Xiaomi 17, is the most powerful small - sized all - around flagship in Xiaomi's history."

As Lei Jun said, this time, Xiaomi is really speaking with data. It benchmarks against Apple from multiple perspectives such as battery life, imaging, appearance, system ecology, and price. It even uses the comment that the iPhone 17 was jokingly called "squeezing the toothpaste too hard" as a footnote for comparison, trying to prove to consumers in a more comprehensive and direct way that Xiaomi 17 is not only comparable to Apple but also comprehensively surpasses it.

Benchmarking the battery life of the iPhone 17

A major premise worthy of attention is that Apple, as the benchmark in the high - end market, has long occupied the high - ground of "innovation and quality" in consumers' minds. Although its product iterations have often been criticized as "squeezing the toothpaste", it still maintains extremely high profit margins and user stickiness thanks to the iOS ecological barrier and brand premium.

Therefore, Xiaomi's choice to put forward the declaration of "comprehensive surpassing" is essentially a well - planned cognitive battle, that is, by breaking down the comparison dimensions into quantifiable parameters, it transforms the originally vague brand image into specific technological advantages.

The cleverness of this strategy lies in that it avoids a direct confrontation with Apple in the non - standardized soft - power fields such as ecological stickiness and design aesthetics, and confines the discussion to the hardware parameter track where domestic mobile phones are most proficient.

However, the risks are also obvious: if consumers think that there is a gap between the actual experience of Xiaomi 17 and its promotion, and that it is still inferior to the iPhone 17 in some aspects, this contrast of "leading in parameters but falling short in experience" may trigger a new round of public opinion storm.

In the high - end market, consumers are not only paying for the hardware cost but also for the trust premium of the brand's promise. Once this trust is broken, the cost of explanation will be much higher than that in the mid - and low - end markets.

It should be noted that Xiaomi's new product was launched after the iPhone 17. Not only can Xiaomi conduct real - machine tests for comparison, but consumers can also experience it firsthand. This means that after the official launch of Xiaomi 17, every detail will be scrutinized under a magnifying glass, and any minor flaw may be infinitely magnified, thus affecting consumers' perception of Xiaomi's comprehensive surpassing.

Xiaomi 17

Undoubtedly, Xiaomi's courage to launch this cognitive battle at this time shows its full confidence in the strength of its new flagship. This confidence is not only reflected in the stacking of technical parameters but also in Xiaomi's attempt to redefine consumers' expectations of "high - end mobile phones" through these hard - core strengths.

From a more macroscopic perspective, Xiaomi's declaration of "comprehensive surpassing" is not only a strategic attempt by the company itself but also a microcosm of Chinese technology brands' pursuit of breakthroughs in the high - end market. In today's increasingly competitive global market, Chinese brands need more "game - changers" like Xiaomi to break through the market barriers established by international giants and win dignity and status for Chinese manufacturing through continuous technological R & D investment, precise market positioning, and bold brand strategy adjustments.

On September 27th, the Xiaomi 17 series delivered a stunning report card: it broke the full - price - range first - sale record of domestic mobile phones in 2025 in just 5 minutes. The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max alone accounted for half of the series' sales volume.

Image source: Lei Jun's Weibo

When the so - called "gimmicky" marketing is supported by real sales data, the "comprehensive surpassing" campaign of the Xiaomi 17 series has achieved a phased victory. Those who once doubted whether Xiaomi could gain a foothold in the high - end market now have to re - evaluate the strength and determination of this Chinese technology brand.

In the past, Xiaomi was perhaps more regarded as a representative of cost - effectiveness. Now, it is reshaping the outside world's perception of its brand with a high - end and innovative image. This transformation is not only a huge boost to Xiaomi's brand value but also has far - reaching implications for other domestic mobile phone brands: it proves that through continuous technological R & D investment, precise market positioning, and bold brand strategy adjustments, Chinese mobile phone enterprises are fully capable of occupying a place in the global high - end mobile phone market and competing head - on with international giants like Apple.

Before opening the chapter of the full - scale rise of Chinese technology brands, perhaps it is necessary for "Xiaomi - like" companies to go through an inner transformation and appear with a truly confident and high - spirited attitude.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Zinc Scale" (ID: znkedu), author: Meng Huiyuan, published by 36Kr with authorization.