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Xiaomi takes aim at Apple, Qualcomm

Putting final polish on processor and smartwatch announcements

Apple and Qualcomm will be doing a bit of looking-over-their-shoulder competitive analylsis: rising Chinese Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi is prepping a smartwatch and mobile processor.

The company's Mi smartwatch has left the rumour-mill, with a launch schedule to be formally announced at a company event on May 10.

Cupertino is already starting to relinquish its dominant position in the Thing-on-your-wrist market, according to Strategy Analytics, with its share in Q1 2016 down from 63 per cent last year to 52 per cent this year.

The whole market more than tripled, however, from 1.3 million units in Q1 2015 to 4.2 million in Q1 2016, giving Apple a little over two million units in the quarter.

GizmoChina reports Xiaomi co-founder and vice president Liu De told a Beijing press conference his company's Mi smartwatch lands in the second half of the year.

Xiaomi's official confirmation comes shortly after Huang Wang, CEO of Xiaomi's manufacturer Huami, discussed both the Mi smartwatch and an upcoming fitness tracker under the same brand with to Zhidx.com (which is currently getting a Google “this site hosts malware” warning).

Xiaomi hasn't yet announced pricing for the Mi smartwatch, but a previous offering for children (the Mi Bunny) ships at 299 yuan (a little over US$42).

In a separate and unconfirmed report, The Korea Times says the company's also going to butt heads with Qualcomm.

It's set to announce its own mobile processor, to be dubbed the Rifle, at a company event on May 10. The device will license the ARM architecture. ®

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