Xiaomi is in trouble again! Shortly after the launch of Huawei Mate 70, a large number of comments suddenly appeared on the internet, accusing Xiaomi of stealing Huawei's latest technology, leaving onlookers confused: Was this a malicious smear campaign intended to provoke confrontation between the two Chinese tech companies? Or were there hidden circumstances involved?

01, The Beginning and End of Xiaomi's 'Red Maple Imaging' Controversy

On the morning of December 6, Wang Hua, General Manager of Xiaomi's Public Relations, made the first wave of responses to the recent public opinion through Weibo. He stated that on the previous day (December 5), he had submitted the relevant (negative article) links and account screenshots to Xiaomi's Legal Department, and the legal team had already begun collecting evidence from the relevant accounts!

The fact that the top public relations officer of a Fortune 500 company has already involved the company's legal department and invited the public to continue providing clues indicates that conventional statements and rumor debunking have lost their significance, reflecting the severity of the situation.

Eating gossip professionally for 30 years! To provide the audience with an objective and clear understanding of this incident, I will first sort out the detailed timeline as usual:

On November 26, Huawei launched the Mate 70 series. During the introduction of the camera features, Yu Chengdong specifically mentioned the Red Maple Original Color Imaging Technology. The series is equipped with over 1.5 million multispectral channels, realizing 'Mate, staying true to its original color,' which attracted significant attention. The most intuitive impression of the Red Maple Imaging from the major influencers who first received the media machines for review was also the extremely accurate color rendering;

However, what many consumers and netizens failed to notice was that on the same day, November 26, Gritek Microelectronics released an original article titled 'Gritek Successfully Mass-Produced Multispectral CIS Solutions' through its official WeChat public account 'Gritek GalaxyCore,' introducing the many advantages of multispectral CIS in a popular science manner;

Left: Schematic of the spectral range captured by a conventional RGB Bayer sensor; Right: Schematic of the spectral range captured by a multispectral image sensor

On December 4, Jilin Qiushi Spectral Data Technology Co., Ltd. issued a statement in which it claimed that 'after years of efforts by our company and its partners, our spectral imaging chip technology solution has been recognized by industry leaders, and we have completed shipments on a scale of millions;'

'However, our company has discovered that recently, some competitor companies have stolen our technology, imitated production without authorization, promised to sell products infringing on our intellectual property rights, and published false information related to our products on some websites...'

Initially, this statement did not cause much uproar. However, after a comment from a netizen with an IP address from the United States under a video by a Bilibili UP, the situation quickly escalated, completely igniting public opinion;

Bilibili UP Comment

Subsequently, various social media platforms, including Weibo, Douyin, Toutiao, Coolapk, and Bilibili, began to see various videos, posts, and comments directly targeting Xiaomi, gradually heating up the incident:

Weibo Influencers and Regular Accounts Mobilize

Sharp Comments from Various Sectors on Douyin/Toutiao

After this series of operations, Xiaomi was tarnished, regardless of the truth, leading to the legal action mentioned at the beginning of the first part of this article. This is a microcosm of this major incident (due to space limitations, many other pieces of evidence are not listed here).

In summary, two supply chain companies in the CIS sector are 'at odds,' though they have not yet reached the point of open confrontation. Qiushi Spectral's statement did not mention taking legal action against Gritek Microelectronics for rights protection, and as far as I have observed, Qiushi Spectral's statement has since been deleted.

A basic common sense is that the 'competitor companies' mentioned by Qiushi Spectral in the CIS/SIS sector could not possibly be smartphone manufacturers. Upon investigation, it was found that Qiushi Spectral is backed by investment from Huawei Haobo Investment. As a supplier to Huawei, it is quite normal for Qiushi Spectral to receive investment from Huawei-affiliated capital;

Image: Tianyancha

However, a basic logic in the industry is that major mobile phone manufacturers like Apple and Huawei typically have dual or multiple suppliers for core components. This approach not only diversifies risks but also provides better bargaining power. Therefore, there is a possibility of misunderstanding between Gritek Microelectronics and Qiushi Spectral;

Gritek Microelectronics also has a very good relationship with Huawei and is a core supplier of camera chips (CIS) for Huawei's nova 11 series. Given that these two companies are both part of Huawei's supply chain, it is understandable that Huawei, as a terminal manufacturer, would not publicly issue a statement. Therefore, Huawei's silence is entirely reasonable.

Xiaomi's 'collateral damage' is already a foregone conclusion. Then why do some influencers claim that OPPO has also been affected? After further analysis, I found that during the escalation of this incident, several related Weibo posts from the supply chain insider 'Digital Chat Station' also played a role in fueling the flames to some extent.

For example, on December 5, when responding to a netizen's question about whether any manufacturers were following up on Huawei's Red Maple camera, 'Digital Chat Station' replied, 'Yes, there will be an upcoming super-sized model that uses it.' Later that day, 'Digital Chat Station' posted another Weibo update stating, 'Next year's Q1, a certain Snapdragon 8E super-sized model will feature a multispectral camera from a leading domestic lens supplier...';

Netizens' Speculation on the Delay of Xiaomi 15U

However, on the morning of December 6, 'Digital Chat Station' posted on Weibo that 'Xiaomi 15U's imaging hardware has been talked about many times. This device does not have a spectral camera at all...' It is unclear whether this was a rumor debunking in response to the uncontrollable public opinion directed at Xiaomi, but the timely rumor debunking did play a role in cooling down these public sentiments to some extent.

It is worth mentioning that on the morning of December 6, Wang Hua, General Manager of Xiaomi's Public Relations Department, also specifically debunked rumors about the 'delay' of Xiaomi 15, stating, 'There is no delay; we have always been progressing according to the scheduled timeline!'

Without a spectral camera and without a delay, Xiaomi was simply doing its job diligently when it was suddenly accused of stealing Huawei's patents. This is unacceptable to anyone. Imagine Xiaomi's psychological distress.

In my opinion, this incident has not only harmed Xiaomi but may also have a negative impact on Huawei, leading unaware netizens to believe that Xiaomi and Huawei are inherently at odds. However, in reality, these two companies do not have any disputes over multispectral technology.

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Of course, this incident also serves as a reminder to Xiaomi—how to enhance the public's basic understanding that Xiaomi is a high-tech company is urgently needed!!!

02, No Technology? Perhaps the Biggest Misunderstanding of Xiaomi!

As of the end of 2023, Xiaomi held over 1,500 patents in the field of artificial intelligence, over 210 patents in the field of intelligent driving, and over 190 patents in the field of humanoid robots;

According to the TOP 50 ranking of artificial intelligence invention patents applied for and published in China compiled by IPRdaily, a global intellectual property information service provider, as of mid-2024, Tencent ranked first, Huawei ranked fifth, OPPO ranked ninth, and Xiaomi ranked 25th;

As of June 30, 2024, Xiaomi had obtained over 40,000 patent licenses globally, with over 32,000 patents under review worldwide;

On October 29, 2024, Lei Jun officially announced at the Xiaomi 15 series product launch event that Xiaomi expected to invest over 24 billion yuan in research and development throughout 2024 and reach 30 billion yuan in 2025. From the official data presented by Xiaomi, it is not difficult to discover that Xiaomi's R&D investment has exploded in the past five years;

In terms of 5G technology, according to the TOP 10 list of essential 5G standard patents published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology in 2024, Huawei continued to rank first with a 12.42% share of valid patent families, ZTE ranked fifth with a 6.97% share, and Xiaomi ranked eighth with a 4.62% share;

It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi only entered the TOP 10 list two years ago. In just two years, it has risen two places in the competitive 5G communications sector, becoming the second-largest domestic communications giant after Huawei and ZTE, demonstrating its rapid progress;

According to a Weibo post by Xiaomi President Lu Weibing on December 2, Xiaomi will continue to focus on core underlying technologies, sparing no effort in research and development in the three major areas of AI, OS, and chips;

Based on multiple sources, Xiaomi's self-developed advanced process chips are expected to be mass-produced and launched in 2025. This indicates that Xiaomi is a technology company with its own technological reserves in both the smartphone and new energy vehicle sectors;

Today, it is perhaps inappropriate to continue labeling Xiaomi as a 'buyer' or 'assembler.'

We need Huawei, and we also need Xiaomi: one flower does not make a spring, but many flowers together make a garden bloom with color!

Reference Materials:

Related Weibo Posts

Some Images Sourced from the Internet