Will MIUI 7 be Xiaomi's lifeline?

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Flowers don’t last forever, and people don’t stay happy forever. No matter how brilliant the past was, it may become a thing of the past if you are not careful. In the technology circle, Nokia and Blackberry are the best examples. For Xiaomi, which seems to be booming, it seems inappropriate to be pessimistic so early. After all, the shipment volume of domestic smartphones is still in the first-tier camp, and various smart hardware products are emerging in an endless stream, which seems to be a trend of creating a huge business empire.

But to be honest, Xiaomi's core smartphone business has shown signs of decline, and the high growth of the past has completely become a thing of the past. Therefore, the "prophet" that first entered the smartphone industry and made a big splash - MIUI system jumped out to save the world. According to reports, MIUI 7 will be released on August 16. Can it take on the responsibility of becoming Xiaomi's lifeline?

MIUI 7 Times can no longer create heroes

The news that MIUI 7 will be released at Xiaomi's press conference on August 16 seems very reliable. After all, August 16 is a fixed date for Xiaomi to release important products and hold celebration promotions. The models involved in the MIUI 7 update are also very high, including Xiaomi 3, Xiaomi 4, Xiaomi 4i, Xiaomi Note/top version, Redmi 2, Redmi Note 4G, Redmi 2A, etc., basically covering all models. It can be seen that Xiaomi wants to use MIUI 7 to arouse users' enthusiasm again, thereby promoting the sales of its smartphones.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the era when MIUI dominated the market. The scene in which MIUI pushed Xiaomi smartphones to the top of sales with its own strength will never happen again, and the stimulating effect is becoming less and less obvious. Whether it is Meizu Flyme OS, Huawei Emotion UI, OnePlus Hydrogen OS, vivo Funtouch OS, or Smartisan OS, OPPO Color OS, etc., they all have their own characteristics and many die-hard fans. The situation where MIUI dominated the market is gone forever. The humanized features, rich functions, and eye-catching interface that MIUI was once proud of have become "common goods".

In addition, MIUI has never been able to achieve the tasks that Xiaomi expected. Xiaomi originally expected MIUI to become the core of the ecosystem, closely integrating smartphones, smart home appliances and other smart hardware, but now these products are basically in a state of fighting on their own, and MIUI has not become a qualified adhesive. MIUI can no longer be a hero, and even if it evolves to the lucky version 7, it is destined not to be Xiaomi's life-saving straw.

Xiaomi crisis! The core shows signs of marginalization

The reason why MIUI 7 is not effective is that the sales of Xiaomi mobile phones, the core product, are weak and tend to be marginalized, which has become a hindrance to Xiaomi's further development. In the first half of this year, although Xiaomi's mobile phone sales reached 34.7 million units, it was lower than the 35 million units in the second half of last year. Not to mention achieving the annual sales target of 80 million to 100 million units. Xiaomi's rapid development has stumbled, and it may be difficult to get up again in the increasingly competitive smartphone market.

The decline in Xiaomi’s sales is due to two factors: first, the price-performance advantage that it once had is no longer there; second, the performance of its flagship model is not strong enough, and the Xiaomi Note has too many competitors, which has dragged it down. In addition, the competition in the 1,000 yuan price range is fierce, and Xiaomi’s mobile phones have become passers-by.

It is understood that AOKP, a third-party ROM team that previously stated that it developed MIUI 7 together with Xiaomi, said that the first model to run it should be the Xiaomi Mi 5. But if MIUI 7 is really released on August 16, it means that the Xiaomi Mi 5 will definitely not be there. Xiaomi will pin its hopes on the new flagship Xiaomi Mi 5, but since the mass production of Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 will have to wait until around December, the four-month gap is enough to hurt Xiaomi's vitality. The weakness of the flagship model has become a burden for Xiaomi.

Although Xiaomi water purifiers, air conditioners, power strips, routers and other products are released more and more quickly, as long as the core mobile phone products cannot keep up with the pace of the market, no matter how many peripheral smart hardware products there are, it will be useless. Without the maintenance of Xiaomi mobile phones, it is impossible to build a complete ecosystem.

Self-salvation? Xiaomi needs to do more than just the system

Xiaomi is actively trying to save itself, and it can still grab headlines through messy smart hardware and unreasonable marketing methods, but this is not a long-term solution. Even if MIUI 7 is launched step by step, it will only quench the thirst for a while and appease old users, and the stimulating effect on mobile phone sales is too low.

Therefore, what Xiaomi needs to do is to launch flagship mobile phone products as soon as possible. Don't rely too much on Qualcomm. You should know that Qualcomm is now in trouble, with revenue and profits plummeting and countless layoffs. How can a broken Qualcomm save Xiaomi that is about to be broken? So, Xiaomi should hurry up and build relationships with MediaTek and Samsung to see if they can cooperate on high-end flagship processors.