The Xiaomi MiPad
Fast-emerging Chinese consumer electronics player Xiaomi, celebrated for its smartphones, has not only revealed an affordable but stylish 7.9-inch tablet computer but also a 49-inch 4K TV with a sound bar and a subwoofer.
Just four years old, the company, which is privately valued by investors at US$10bn and which employs 3,000 people, revealed the MiPad, a plastic device that will compete with the same-sized device from Apple.
The MiPad will cost US$240 for the 16GB version and US$275 for the 64GB version, significantly less than the iPad mini, which costs US$599 for a 64GB version.
But what was truly unexpected was the MiTV, a 49-inch HDTV with 3D and 4K resolution, a sound bar and subwoofer that will sell for US$645 compared with the US$2,000 49-inch Sony Bravia.
It appears Xiamoi has taken its learning from smartphones to turn the MiTV into a truly smart TV. It comes with a Snapdragon quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, as well as built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities.
The emergence of Xiaomi and other young brands from China pose a considerable headache for manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung and HTC.
The Xiaomi MiTV
