Looks like a tug of war has started between two Chinese smartphone manufacturers, LeEco and Xiaomi, over gaining a sizable market share of the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, India. LeEco has accused Xiaomi of creating hype of its recently launched Redmi Note 3 in India. In a latest press release, LeEco urges consumers to do a reality check before they actually go for a sub-12k smartphone.
The recently debuted LeEco took the Indian smartphone market by storm by launching the super powerful Le 1S smartphone at the price of just Rs. 10,999 (US$160) in January this year. The company has successfully garnered much appreciation and has turned heads focus to Le 1S smartphone and has called it a market disrupter in a true sense. Not late enough, arch-competitor Xiaomi also launched Redmi Note 3 in India, dubbed as a real game changer, and placed its right against LeEco Le 1S by price tagging its 32 GB variant at Rs. 11,999 (US$180). While both the smartphones carry powerful chipset and few other hardware components under the hood, the competition is bound to heat up.
Aiming at Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, LeEco Le 1S smartphone claims to supersede on three key hardware metrics: Processor, Screen, and Type-C USB. The company has claimed that Le 1S is far better and superior in terms of performance and value-for-money.
The LeEco also insists on the fact that, unlike Redmi Note 3, Le 1S has a full metal Uni-body and the world’s only all-metal body device crafted with aircraft grade aluminum, which strengthens the signal receiving capabilities. It is 13% slimmer and sleek measuring 7.5mm as against 8.65 mm of Redmi Note 3.
The company also pointed to the difference between the processing power of both the smartphones. LeEco Le 1S is powered by 2.2Ghz Octa-core processor while Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3 carries a 1.8Ghz hexacore processor in his belly.
However, besides all the differences, LeEco specifically drags the attention to the difference of display glass, which is generally the most expensive component in any of the smartphones. Le 1S offers users toughened glass protection – Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a feature that is generally available only in the premium segment smartphones. The company claims that despite the fact that display is one of the most important and expensive components in most of the smartphones, Xiaomi has overlooked this key aspect, leaving consumer vulnerable to phone damage.
While LeEco Le 1S advanced at few counts, Redmi Note 3 also has an upper hand in many aspects. The biggest differentiator is the 16-megapixel rare camera in Redmi Note 3 while Le 1S offers only 13-megapixel. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3 also offers expandable storage up to 32 GB, which is missing in Le 1S. But the most important and valuable difference is the battery backup and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 wins with distinction with 4050 mAh battery against 3,000 mAh battery Le 1S is loaded with. If you are interested in going through a detail comparison review, you can follow this link.
Why is LeEco Aiming Xiaomi
Probably this is the first time ever when any Chinese company has officially challenged its competitor in a bid to protect its prospective consumer base. LeEco Le1S received a tremendous response in the country and has shattered many of sales records by selling 200,000 devices within a month. In China as well, the device sales skyrocketed after the launch as the company sold more than 3 million Le1S smartphone in over a couple of months.
LeEco, formally LetV and largely known as Netflix of China, is the new entrant in the smartphone industry. Barely one-and-a-half-year-old in the business of smartphone, LeEco is aggressively chasing the world’s emerging markets. Founded in November 2004, LeEco took just a year to understand the changing dynamics of the smartphone market and debuted in India in January 2016. Just to put things in perspective, it took nearly 4 years for Xiaomi to go beyond Chinese boundaries.
Industry analysts feel that Xiaomi could be getting a taste of their own medicine considering the earlier launches of LeEco smartphones. However, LeEco doesn’t want to loose out on the buzz it has created in the Indian market within 2 months of launch and after taking Xiaomi head on.
Both, LeEco and Xiaomi have their own advantages and are trying to leverage on that with full capacity. While the former one is quite a strong and seasoned professional in the content ecosystem, the latter one is largely banking upon the brand value of its Vice President, Hugo Barra – an ex-Googler and Android expert. As both the Chinese smartphone players are leaving no stone unturned to grab a sizable chunk of the Indian smartphone pie, it would be interesting to see how the competition will unfold, and who would be the ultimate winner, besides ending consumer off course.
