XIAOMI is a Chinese manufacturer, and the fourth-largest smartphone maker in the world. It may have a mixed reputation in the West — where it has been accused of cribbing design features — but you would be foolish to dismiss Xiaomi on that basis.It is a manufacturer of note in its own right and its devices are making waves globally, and now locally.Fast Company magazine last year called Xiaomi “one of the most unstoppable forces the tech industry has ever seen”, positioning it as Apple’s biggest threat and as key competition in the Chinese market.In 2015, according to Gartner, Xiaomi sold 65m devices — short of the target of 100m but enough to place it fifth globally in terms of smartphone sales, behind Samsung, Apple, Huawei and Lenovo.Late last year we began to hear rumours that Xiaomi devices would finally be available in SA, and now there are two — the Mi 4 and the Redmi Note 2 (reviewed) — distributed locally and elsewhere in Africa by telecoms firm Mobile in Africa.The Note 2 ...
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