China's Xiaomi unveils copycat 'Mi Pad' in bid to take on Apple's iPad

Posted:
in iPad edited May 2014
Apple's dominance in the tablet market with the iPad will be challenged by a new competitor in Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker that plans to take on the iPad with a nearly identical look and a product name that simply adds one letter and a space to Apple's trademarked name.




Xiaomi on Thursday introduced the Mi Pad, sporting a 7.9-inch display that is the same size as Apple's iPad mini. The new Mi Pad will come in a total of six colors and capacities of 16 or 64 gigabytes, while carrying a starting price of 1,499 yuan, or $240 U.S., undercutting Apple.

The product essentially looks like a plastic iPad mini with more color options, even packing in an identical screen resolution of 2,048 by 1,536. It also runs a heavily version of Google's Android operating system dubbed "MIUI" that looks strikingly like Apple's iOS 7.




Xiaomi founder Lei Jun even openly talked about the iPad in remarks following the unveiling, saying the goal was to create hardware that "could come close to, or even surpass" Apple's offerings, according to Reuters.

The Mi Pad will also be powered by Nvidia's new K1 mobile processor clocked at 2.2 gigahertz, with storage expansion options available via MicroSD.



With more than 1 billion people in China, Chinese smartphone vendors have been carving out a growing share of the total worldwide market. Those companies include Xiaomi, Lenovo, ZTE, Huawei, and Yulong.

While Xiamoi's product name and its look are clearly inspired by Apple's iPad, the company's business model will be different, as the company plans to profit off of services rather than the sale of hardware.

Xiaomi's current sales are largely based in China, but the company has signaled it plans to expand into India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 85
    supaflysupafly Posts: 15member
    Apple lawsuit in 3, 2, 1.
  • Reply 2 of 85
    orange whiporange whip Posts: 151member
    why did they bother with the 'M'?
  • Reply 3 of 85
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    MIUI has been around for years as a custom Android ROM, and since it's inception has mimicked the look and feel of iOS. This Mi Pad could very well end up being highly popular in China. It's sad that people don't use their talents to create something original
  • Reply 4 of 85
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member

    China copies everything else, so was just a matter of time before this happened.  Wonder if Apple will even try to do anything about it.  They do have clout in China, so maybe they can stop this but that could be a tough battle. 

  • Reply 5 of 85
    rabbit_coachrabbit_coach Posts: 1,114member
    O Oooh!

    Wonder what Android Version "MIUI" is built upon. Or is this "MIUI" a Google creation???
    This didn't clearly come thru. At least not to me....
  • Reply 6 of 85
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    The slipped up naming the iOS, it should have been MiOS! The company should be Mapple. Next they will have laptops running MOSX.
  • Reply 7 of 85
    singularitysingularity Posts: 1,328member
    O Oooh!

    Wonder what Android Version "MIUI" is built upon. Or is this "MIUI" a Google creation???
    This didn't clearly come thru. At least not to me....
    It's a modified android variant with all the Google play parts taken out. It is upto v5 which is based upon android 4.3.x. thus it's not a Google creation
  • Reply 8 of 85

    Never ending Chinese creativity... what a repeating joke

  • Reply 9 of 85
    simtubsimtub Posts: 277member
    Damn... Even the commercial reminds me of the coloured iPod days..
  • Reply 10 of 85
    nikiloknikilok Posts: 383member
    Well so I see they have chosen to follow in the footsteps of Samsung.
  • Reply 11 of 85
    kc_150kc_150 Posts: 28member

    Can't believe there are too many coincidences in this world, even on the product shots!

  • Reply 12 of 85

    Apparently Xiaomi purchased all the copy machines from Samsung

  • Reply 13 of 85

    So ... take the colors from the iPhone 5C, splash them onto a clone of the iPad Mini with a skin that looks like iOS 7 and ... profit?

     

    I wonder if they'll try to sell this outside China.

  • Reply 14 of 85

    Gotta love the Chinese creativity, whilst they claim there is no IP issues in China. 

  • Reply 15 of 85
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nikilok View Post



    Well so I see they have chosen to follow in the footsteps of Samsung.

     

    Why not? It worked and the legal repercussions for copying turned to be a joke.

  • Reply 16 of 85
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    So basically an iPad mini with iPhone 5C styling. Wow those Chinese companies really have no shame. :no:
  • Reply 17 of 85
    nikiloknikilok Posts: 383member
    rogifan wrote: »
    So basically an iPad mini with iPhone 5C styling. Wow those Chinese companies really have no shame. :no:

    Nope no shame when they stand to earn billions and retire with a few luxury yatch's, a few ferrari's and giant homes and not to mention hot Chinese girls all around them. :).
  • Reply 18 of 85
    haarhaar Posts: 563member
    wait, Samsung "copied" the iPad, now the chinese copy Samsung's "copy" of the iPad... LOL

    ... on the other hand if it is not a copy of the performance of the iPad Air, this chinese copy is dead...
  • Reply 19 of 85
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    O Oooh!

    Wonder what Android Version "MIUI" is built upon. Or is this "MIUI" a Google creation???
    This didn't clearly come thru. At least not to me....

    MIUI was created by Chinese devs. As Android gets updated so does MIUI.
  • Reply 20 of 85
    mubailimubaili Posts: 453member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    MIUI has been around for years as a custom Android ROM, and since it's inception has mimicked the look and feel of iOS. This Mi Pad could very well end up being highly popular in China. It's sad that people don't use their talents to create something original

    well, Samsung was fined for a mere $100 million, now everyone would just wait for Apple's lead and just copy it all. It just makes sense. Essentially they are outsource the design to Apple without paying a dime. Isn't that the best business decision ever invented? Shame to the jury for not imposing a punitive damage reward to Apple and shame to those companies for ... I don't know.
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