Brief: Xiaomi launches Amazon Echo competitor for just $45

Photo credit: Xiaomi.

The news:

• Xiaomi has its own AI speaker. The product joins Amazon Echo, Google Home, and a bajillion other similar products that control your smart home and spy on you for their corporate masters.
• Like its counterparts, the voice-activated speaker can play music, record memos, voice-control smart home devices (including Xiaomi’s smart desk lamps and air purifier), and so on.
• The speaker is available for around US$45.

Why it matters:

• Smart home speakers with an AI assistant aren’t just gaining ground in the West. Tencent has already announced its own voice-activated AI assistant for the Chinese market, while Alibaba is reportedly working on such a product itself.
• With neither Amazon’s nor Google’s speakers available in China, the way is open for local products that speak and understand the language to corner the market. Apple, whose own smart home speaker powered by its Siri AI assistant was revealed recently, is the only foreign company with a significant presence in the country.
• Xiaomi got a reprieve this year after a distressing 2016, during which it dropped down to fifth most popular smartphone brand in China. It wants to ship 100 million smartphones in 2018, a goal that could be helped along by its rising popularity in India.

Source: Xiaomi.

Converted from Chinese yuan. US$1 = RMB 6.75