Business is booming for Xiaomi. It's the biggest smartphone company in China, and the third-largest in the world.
Founder and CEO Lei Jun is largely responsible for the smartphone maker's meteoric rise. He's a charismatic figure, who introduces new products in carefully choreographed keynotes, often wearing his signature outfit — blue jeans and a black top.
It's no accident: Lei Jun has consciously modelled himself after late Apple CEO Steve Jobs after reading about him at college, according to Bloomberg.
Source: Bloomberg
The founder has even co-opted the Apple co-founder's famous "one more thing..." line for the end of his presentations.
Now let's look at some products. The Mi 4, currently selling online for $285 (£191), has chamfered steel edges and a speaker grill made out of tiny holes.
For the Mi 4, Lei Jun admitted he "went to the same companies that made the metallic-framed Apple iPhone to see what they could do for him," the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
It has an uncanny resemblance to the Apple "Magic Trackpad," even though the two devices have different functions.
Xiaomi has hit back at accusations of theft, with exec Hugo Barra telling Verge that "we're not copying Apple's products. End of story."
Source: The Verge
But Xiaomi definitely uses a similar aesthetic to Apple. Here's the teaser for a launch event Xiaomi is holding this week.
And here's the teaser for the Apple Watch launch event, which had the same floral motif and pastel colour scheme.
Last year, designer John Gruber pointed out an interesting case of copycatting on his blog Daring Fireball. First, take a look at the camera on a promotional shot of Xiaomi's Mi 3 phone below.
Source: Daring Fireball
Now look at the logo for Aperture, a photo-editing suite made by Apple. The camera in the Mi3 photo is clearly a skewed and edited version of this lens. Gruber notes that the "Designed by Apple in California" text has even been cropped out in Xiaomi's promotional photo.
This is not the first instance where Xiaomi has been accused of ripping off images. TechCrunch cites numerous examples from the past in which Xiaomi has stolen photos from the internet for use in its promotional materials, often passing them off as photos taken using its smartphones.
Source: TechCrunch
Not all of Xiaomi's products have an obvious Apple analogue, of course. Xiaomi sells the Mi TV, a 3D smart TV. It's an area Apple hasn't explored before.
There's also the Mi Band, a bluetooth fitness tracker. It may not be as sophisticated as the Apple Watch, but its battery lasts a month (versus the Watch's 18 hours) and it sells well.
Intended to compete with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, it eschews the Apple aesthetic completely in favour of a distinctive, clean design.
At one point during the presentation, Lei Jun even *mocked* the design of the iPhone 6.
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/555611874897571840
Now Lei Jun mocking the iPhone 6 Plus camera bump. pic.twitter.com/KwH8sICoDr
And while the device isn't available in the West, reviews have suggested it may actually be superior to Apple's smartphones.
Read more: Mi Note review
