Lei Jun: Xiaomi to Produce New Smartphones to Rival iPhone, Car Mass Production to Begin in 2024

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi, on Friday posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo to answer questions from netizens about Xiaomi’s new product launch conference on December 28, involving future plans for smartphones, Surge chips and Xiaomi Auto.

Lei Jun said that from this year on, the small-sized flagship smartphones will be the sequel of Xiaomi‘s digital production series, and the “one big and one small double sizes” is intended to comprehensively and directly rival the iPhone – the Xiaomi 12 against the iPhone 13 and Xiaomi 12 Pro against iPhone 13 Pro Max.

In addition, Lei Jun confirmed that the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro will be pre-installed with MIUI 13.

Regarding the firm’s Surge chips, Lei Jun said that Xiaomi has released Surge S1, C1 and P1 chips, and will firmly continue to increase investment in R&D. Xiaomi‘s chip business will move forward steadily.

Regarding the company’s automobile business, Lei Jun said that progress has exceeded expectations and mass production is expected to begin in the first half of 2024. In response to the question some netizens raised that Lei Jun no longer cares much about smartphones after Xiaomi started its automobile business, Lei Jun said that the smartphone business is still Xiaomi‘s core business, and that the key technology and core basic experience of smartphones will always be his biggest concern.

SEE ALSO: Lei Jun: Xiaomi’s High-end Smartphone to Take On Apple

According to Lei Jun, on December 28, Xiaomi will release its latest Xiaomi 12 series, including the Xiaomi 12X, Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro.

According to previous sources, the first two models are “small screen flagship,” equipped with Qualcomm 870 chip and Snapdragon 8Gen1, respectively, and both support 67W fast charging.  Meanwhile, the third model is “a heavyweight flagship” featuring luxury functions such as a 2K screen with a high refresh rate, 120W super-fast charging and 5x camera length.