To conquer the world , Xiaomi has to tackle with Huawei first : Analysts

Even with its first large-screen model for sale, Xiaomi may findit hard to outrace the world's second-largest smartphone brand Samsung,especially as the company is in a close match with Huawei,

Present Huawei has more patent advantages than Xiaomi in the international market, Both thecompanies launched their high-end products in the past six months.

Xiaomi Corpintroduced its latest model Mi Note on Thursday. The device, equipped with a5.7-inch screen, sells at a floor price of 2,299 yuan ($370).Huawei launchedits Mate 7 in September. The phone with 6-inch screen supports fingerprintidentification, and is priced at 2,999 yuan. The industry expects the companyto release an undated version Mate 8 later this year.

Jockeying for high-end users

We can see fromthe Mi Note that Xiaomi is paying more attention to building its brand value, otherdomestic brand such as Huawei and Lenovo are completing their product chain byintroducing high-end devices as well. Though the latest model will help promotethe company's profit margin, phones priced around 1,000 yuan will remain as itsbestseller. Red Mi line will likely continue to contribute a large chunk of itssales volume in international market.

Analysts expects the latest Mi Note to gain popularity amongadvanced regions, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, while users fromemerging countries such as India and Malaysia will be more inclined to purchaseits cheaper models. Strategically speaking, Mi Note's role is to broadenXiaomi's customer base by filling the gap of high-end users," added Yan.

Going global

Though hopes arehigh for a one-on-one competition and even shift in position between Samsungand Xiaomi, analysts analyzing that Samsung has more advantages in productdesign and patent reserve. But the Samsung is not the sole competitor, anddespite Xiaomi's marketing approach to take on iPhone, as its real directtarget..

Expectedly thegrowth rate of China'ssmartphone market to continue to slow in 2015 due to saturation of thesmartphone adoption rate and operators' subsidy cuts, but Chinese brands willsustain 20 to 25 percent growth driven primarily by exports demand. "Xiaomi'soverseas sales will grow at a faster pace than its domestic market..

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