Xiaomi and Huawei are companies that are significantly similar to each other. Often when choosing a budget smartphone, most of us buy either Honor or Redmi. And even in this case, that is, when using sub-brands, specific parallels can be drawn. Which of these is the best company, you can’t say for sure. Someone prefers Xiaomi, while others have long been fans of Huawei. But still, we will try to analyze various aspects, comparing the phones of these two companies.
Cost of devices
Just a few years ago, both Huawei and Xiaomi won the hearts of fans precisely due to the low price and successful solutions. However, over the past two years, the situation has changed quite well. For example, Huawei has already approached in terms of its prices closer to the Korean smartphones from Samsung and LG. In turn, Xiaomi remains at about the same level where it was. But still, the average price tag has grown a little. For example, the flagships of Huawei after the announcement and going on sale cost from 35, or even 40,000 rubles. At the same time, top-end Xiaomi models are at least 10-15 thousand cheaper.
If we consider the budget class, then here the difference is even more noticeable. So, at almost the same cost, Huawei and Honor, for example, up to 15,000 rubles, will be in a glossy case and plastic. Xiaomi has models in a glass case, for example, Redmi Note 7 or Mi8 Lite. And in terms of such characteristics as processor power, the amount of RAM and permanent memory, and other parameters, the advantage is again often in favor of Xiaomi. Thus, in terms of cost, they are clearly in the lead.
Range of models in different segments
Both Huawei and Xiaomi have a fairly wide range of smartphones. However, due to the Honor and the abundance of state employees, the preponderance will still go towards Huawei. In the first 4 months of 2019 alone, Xiaomi introduced only 9 new models, while Huawei 17 units, that is, almost 2 times more. While creating the next flagship, Huawei is developing several modifications of it. As a rule, they differ in screen characteristics and other features.
If you look into the class of devices such as phablets, then the situation is even more interesting. Xiaomi has only 1 model in the Max series, which belongs to the middle price category. Huawei has several large devices that cover a fairly wide range of prices. There is the Honor 8X Max, the flagship Mate 20X, and of course a handful of mid-range smartphones.
From here one can draw the most important conclusion: Huawei wants to reach as many consumers as possible, but Xiaomi is still oriented towards the budget and middle class.
Technologies and hardware used in devices
This is where we get a picture of where Huawei is clearly ahead. They have their own Kirin processors, which help optimize the system, improve energy efficiency, and, in principle, their own technologies make production much more profitable. Also, importantly, Huawei is increasingly adding NFC chips even to its budget smartphones, and Xiaomi is somehow neglected.
As for the development of Xiaomi’s own technologies, apart from the trial Surge S1 chip, things did not go any further. So in this direction Huawei is again in the lead. But even here everything is not so simple.
If you look specifically at performance, then hardware is usually Xiaomi’s trump card, simply because they use Qualcomm chips – cool Snapdragon, which are the leaders in performance on the market in any of the classes. Thus, we get a situation where Xiaomi, albeit a noticeably smaller model range, uses modern chips in each of the smartphones. All this makes them the best among the competitors in terms of price-performance ratio. At the same time, Huawei, at least occasionally, still releases a couple of models based on old chips, which quickly lose their relevance and pale in comparison to Xiaomi.
For example, the mid-budget Kirin 710, which, in principle, is quite modern, cannot be compared with Snapdragon 710, and only in some parameters catches up with some Snapdragon 636 or 660. From here, reading the characteristics of the phone, you seem to see similar numbers, but in fact it turns out that you get the worst performance when choosing Huawei. And this is only in the case when we are considering the processor part.
As for the integrated graphics, Adreno, together with the Snapdragon 845, simply destroys the Kirin 980. At the same time, we note that the Snapdragon 850 has already appeared, which is even more interesting.
So Xiaomi clearly wins in terms of hardware, although it does not use its own technologies.
Camera quality
Here we get an extremely ambiguous situation. Huawei’s flagships are equipped with new cameras, which are being created in cooperation with Leica. Her developments are consistently in high places in the photography market and clearly bypass flagships from Xiaomi.
However, if you look at the middle and budget segment, then you and I can observe an absolutely opposite situation. Any conditional Redmi or Mi for 15,000 rubles. shows results at the level of Huawei for 20,000 or more.
Therefore, we can say for sure that if you choose a flagship, then you need to buy Huawei. But in the case of state employees or an average smartphone, then you should give preference to Xiaomi and enjoy life, which, in general, is what most of the buyers do.
Indicators of autonomy
Next, we will look at the aspect of battery life, or, more simply, the autonomy of smartphones. In this regard, if we looked a couple of years ago, we could say with confidence that Xiaomi is the absolute leader. However, now the situation is similar to the one that takes place in the case of cameras.
In the middle and budget segment, the leaders are Redmi and other Xiaomi smartphones. They firmly hold their positions and always occupy high positions in the ratings of the best smartphones in terms of autonomy. The Max models stand out even more in this regard. Huawei also has enough “long-livers”, but still, in the middle segment, things are a little worse, especially due to the fact that inexpensive smartphones do not support fast charging.
In the case of flagships, the situation is exactly the opposite. Xiaomi released the last real flagships at the end of 2016 and these were Mi Mix and Mi Note 2. They had a good battery and, in general, delighted all the fans. Now we get a situation when a battery of 4000 milliamperes of hours or more is put only in special gaming smartphones – these are Black Shark or Pocophone models, which in fact can be called representatives of the middle class, despite the fact that they have a top-end processor. Huawei has good phones in the lineup with an excellent battery from 4000 milliampere hours. For example, the Make 20, 20 Pro, 20X, P20 Pro and P30 Pro models. And this is just what came out in the last 12 months.
That is, again, a contradictory situation, when it is difficult to give preference to someone, and you need to understand what class you are buying a device.
Software support
The last aspect is software support. We can say that there is equality between competitors, although of course with a slight advantage towards Xiaomi and its devices.
Regular updates take place with both MIUI and EMUI, where various new features and chips are added. However, if Xiaomi is trying to release OS updates and improvements for most of its devices for 3 years after their release, or even longer, then Huawei is still a rarity.
Also, both companies have phone models that receive new versions of the operating system for a minimum time. For the most part, these are devices that are not very popular among buyers, as well as those that are built on chips from MediaTek. And also the Xiaomi brand in the Mi A series releases models under the Android One program with absolutely pure Android (Mi A1, Mi A2, Mi A3). The competitor does not have such a thing at all.
Enthusiasts are also much more likely to choose Xiaomi simply because they can unlock the bootloader to modify or change the firmware. But in the case of Huawei, everything is not so simple. In this regard, you need to use a paid code from third parties, which often costs more than $ 30.
Outcomes
Summing up, it is difficult to single out a unanimous leader in each of the considered directions.
More and more, fans of flagship hardware, interesting design and a good camera prefer Huawei. But in the budgetary direction, in most cases you will stumble upon successful devices from Xiaomi. Although, of course, if you look above, there is a Mi Mix 3, a Poco phone, and even a purely gaming Black Shark, which by themselves attract attention.
So among these two brands, it is impossible to single out someone directly, specifically. Both Huawei and Xiaomi are really great fellows. Companies are developing rapidly, producing interesting devices, and the situation is unlikely to change dramatically in the next 5 years.
