Daniel Deakin, NotebookCheck:

Xiaomi built its well-regarded reputation by selling affordable Android smartphones under its Mi, Redmi, and POCO brands, which consisted of devices that frequently “borrowed” popular features and design language from other tech products, with Apple typically being a target for “inspiration”.

Jarring dissonance there, with “well-regarded reputation” fighting against “frequently borrowed features and design language”.

The release of the iPhone 13 series allowed Apple to roar ahead again, and by Q4 2021 the fruit company had soared to 22% of worldwide smartphone shipments while Samsung lost a bit of ground on 17% and Xiaomi dipped drastically to 12%.

And, therefore, Xiaomi now sees its salvation in the high end market dominated by Apple.