China-based company Xiaomi has been making a name for itself thanks to the growing popularity of its smartphone, the Mi 4. But it seems the company is now looking to diversify into the PC market, too.
Rumours of the company’s intent has, according to GizmoChina, been around for months. Now, however, the website has leaked what is allegedly photos that “cropped up online” of said laptop, along with details about its specifications.
And we must say, they look a bit… familiar. Well, don’t just take our word for it, have a look for yourself:
This is what the Xiaomi Laptop allegedly looks like. – Photo from GizmoChina
Indeed, many have reported on its uncanny resemblance to Apple’s Macbook Air. Everything from the size, shape and even colour of the Xiaomi Laptop is similar, except the branding and a supposed “sandstone finish, in contrast to Apple’s smooth aluminium finish”.
To get a more expert opinion on this story, we asked our colleague and Star Bytz tech journalist Tan Kit Hoong what he thought of the pictures.
“I don’t know how legit these photos are. They do seem to have slight hints that they have been doctored or tampered with,” he said. You don’t say.
But then again, it wouldn’t be a major surprise if the Xiaomi Laptop does end up looking a lot like an Apple product, according to Tan. It’s not the first time they’ve been under fire for it…
“Xiaomi is one of the biggest producers of Chinese products now, and they do like to copy Apple’s designs. Even its CEO tends to copy Steve Jobs – the same fashion style, power point animations and everything,” he said.
“That’s why they can’t sell their products in the United States as they’d risk getting sued by Apple.”
Along with the leaked photos, the report also said the Xiaomi Laptop will pack an Intel Haswell i7 4500U processor with 2 x 8GB dual channel memory, a 15-inch 1080p display and will run on a Linux OS customised by Xiaomi.
And how much will this piece of hardware cost you? Apparently, it’ll be 2,999 Yuan, which comes up to about RM1,690.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has had his presentation style compared to that of Steve Jobs’ in the past. – Photo by AFP
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that Xiaomi itself has yet to announce anything about developing a laptop.
“In any case, Xiaomi’s products are usually quite high in quality. And it does make sense that laptops are the company’s next step,” said Tan.
UPDATE: So it turns out Tan’s prediction was right – the alleged Xiaomi Laptop image was a fake! Xiaomi communications manager Kaylene Hong revealed to Tech in Asia that “that’s false news”.
In fact, the Xiaomi Laptop image we’ve been seeing is a result of some questionable superimpose work on an undated clone that already had an orange power button.
Here’s proof the Xiaomi MacBook Air clone is a hoax http://t.co/YKwxHd4Wan pic.twitter.com/iQqWFnmlgH
— Tech in Asia (@Techinasia) December 30, 2014
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