Xiaomi seems to be playing with a very new ecology.

Xiaomi, who called for an open ecology, has made a "big job" this time.

　

On the evening of October 29th, Xiaomi held a new product launch conference, including the annual flagship model Xiaomi 15 series, the production version of Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, and a number of Xiaomi ecological products.

　

In more than 160 minutes, Xiaomi gave a long explanation on the update of various product lines in the ecological chain, and just as the audience’s patience was exhausted, Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, who won the title of "the fastest four-door car on the surface" in Newbei not long ago, came to the finale, which pushed the conference atmosphere to a climax instantly.

　

However, although Xiaomi SU7 Ultra made other products a supporting role, throughout the whole conference, there was an upgrade that still surprised the author-the OS 2.0 system.

　

To be precise, it is the HyperConnect function on 澎湃 OS 2.0.

　

Like the mainstream thinking in the industry at present, 澎湃 OS is a system based on AOSP (Android Open Source Project), and Xiaomi officially does not shy away from this point, emphasizing the compatibility brought by distributed collaborative computing outside the Android framework.

　

By version 2.0, this compatibility even extended to the Mac across the end and ecology.

　

According to Jin Fan, vice president of mobile phone department of Xiaomi Group, Xiaomi HyperConnect function will fully support Apple devices. On the 澎湃 OS 2.0 system, Xiaomi mobile phone can realize file transfer with iPhone, iPad and Mac, and at the same time support viewing documents in Apple’s exclusive format such as Keynote and Pages on Xiaomi devices.

　

What’s more exaggerated is that HyperConnect also supports the use of "Xiaomi Miao Xiang Desktop" on the Mac, that is, mirroring and controlling the Xiaomi mobile phone on the Mac.

　

At a time when terminal manufacturers generally emphasize the ecological closed-loop experience, Xiaomi has started an attempt called "ecological integration".

　

　Why "hug Apple"?

　

"Among Xiaomi users, more and more people choose to hold both Apple and Xiaomi (equipment)." At the press conference, Jin Fan explained that OS 2.0 supports Apple devices.

　

In fact, Xiaomi’s "openness" to Apple has long been a clue.

　

In the early years, when Xiaomi mainly promoted the "Mijia" ecological chain, the Mijia desk lamp and smart door lock supported the connection to Apple’s Homekit, and then the printer was seamlessly connected to Apple’s AirPrint. When Xiaomi SU7 was released last year, it was a one-step adaptation for Apple users, which not only supported CarPlay and Airplay, but even supported the iPad to get on the bus.

　

Lei Jun even said at the time that "Apple users will have a good experience when they drive Xiaomi cars".

　

It should be said that the compatibility of these devices with the Apple system is not surprising. Because both Xiaomi’s home eco-products and Xiaomi’s cars are outside Apple’s product sequence, it is very important for Xiaomi to attract iOS users without competition.

　

But the problem is that on 澎湃 OS 2.0, Xiaomi’s mobile phone is interconnected with iPad and Mac, and Xiaomi has its own tablet and PC products, which is contrary to the common narrative logic in the Android camp.

　

Here is an interesting phenomenon: although the open source features of Android system can’t make devices tightly coupled, most manufacturers are still keen to build a relatively closed ecosystem.

　

In essence, this is because manufacturers want to bind mobile phones, tablets and IoT devices together. Of course, in terms of propaganda, most of them use the words "to ensure the consistency of user experience".

　

It should be said that this statement is true to some extent. After all, if the terminal manufacturer has the ability to rewrite the framework of file transfer from the bottom, it must be better than the simple communication protocol opening in stability.

　

However, in the current Android camp, there is neither a "walled garden" forced by iOS and App Store, nor a good cross-test experience for users.

　

Regardless of the compatibility of Android with desktop systems such as Windows, MacOS and Linux, we only talk about the previous communication interconnection within Android. Up to now, there is no comprehensive solution. When it comes to cross-end file transfer, users will still choose third-party applications such as LocalSend, or even "file transfer assistants" with simple functions.

　

Therefore, in the middle of the Android camp, building a completely closed-loop ecology can basically be regarded as congenital conditions.

　

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Xiaomi holds such a development attitude towards the closed apple ecological equipment.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

On the one hand, Xiaomi rarely overlaps with Apple’s user portraits on products other than mobile phones, just as people who buy Xiaomi tablets pay more attention to entertainment attributes, while iPad users will pay attention to productivity applications. On the other hand, the Android system is inherently difficult to close the ecology, and there is really no need to forcibly shape the "ecological moat".

　

In addition, with the promotion of AI application in the end side, the barriers between different ecosystems must be gradually blurred.

　

They are all bucket machines. What do manufacturers spell?

　

On the eve of this conference, there was an episode in which all kinds of digital forums were wondering how much the price of Xiaomi 15 series would increase this time.

　

Because when the Xiaomi 14 series was released, Lei Jun specially emphasized that "the cost of various components is rising this year, and the price is 3999 yuan (price), which is really the last time."

　

In the end, when the price of Xiaomi 15 series was released, the price of 200 yuan fluctuated under the same configuration as the previous model, and the image of Xiaomi as "cost-effective" was maintained. After all, on SoC alone, the price of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition has increased by 15% this year compared with the previous generation.

　

However, it is worth mentioning that after this conference, except for the price, there was hardly much discussion on Xiaomi 15 series, and the same was true for mobile phones released by other manufacturers recently.

　

One problem reflected by this is that there is basically no performance difference in the hardware configuration of today’s mobile phone industry, and almost all the bucket machines on the flagship models are guaranteed to be over-configured. Even in the past, the boundaries of the "medium cup/large cup" models deliberately differentiated by manufacturers were not so clear. Looking at the "beggar version models" of each family, even obvious shortcomings could not be found.

　

In this context, what should manufacturers fight for in the future mobile phone industry?

　

At present, AI must be a general direction.

　

On the 澎湃 OS 2.0 system, Xiaomi has equipped a number of AI functions for this system, including movie lock screen based on AI computing, AI writing, AI sound recognition, etc., as well as the upgraded AI Agent "Super Little Love".

Looking at these functions alone, none of them will make people feel fresh, but Xiaomi’s advantage lies in the 澎湃 OS system, which integrates Xiaomi Vela OS, an embedded Internet of Things software platform developed by Xiaomi, at the beginning of its design, and its distributed collaborative computing features are naturally suitable for cross-end execution.

　

Therefore, what Xiaomi really expects is the role that AI Agent plays in smart homes and cars on the basis of taking mobile phones as the control center.

　

A counterintuitive fact is that although the big model has penetrated into all walks of life, the smart home, which was first regarded as the AI landing scene, has even regressed.

　

Taking smart speakers as an example, according to the data of Roto Technology, in the first half of 2024, the sales volume of smart speakers in China was 8.055 million units, with sales of 2.17 billion yuan, down by 29.8% and 33.8% respectively.

　

From the user’s point of view, the current smart home devices lack the ability to create automatic scenes, and the traditional "point-to-point" control between APP and smart devices has been difficult to meet the intelligent needs in complex scenes.

　

From this point of view, Xiaomi’s huge smart home ecology seems to be the best sample to verify whether AI Agent can be competent for multi-scenario scheduling.