Apple has been, for decades, one of the most popular brand for tech products with their famous Mac, iPads and iPhone but is also known for their very high prices. From there has become a were between Apple users and non-Apple who do not understand why people are paying such a heavy price for a laptop while you can have better specs for a fraction of the price with a different brand.
Now that new brands keep rising and let’s say it, mostly from China, with prices you have never seen we come to re-think our buying experience. Years ago it was clear that product coming from Chinese brands were not as reliable as big brands like Apple or Microsoft. But lately the game has change and this is mostly because of the rising brand Xiaomi making phones, tablets, laptops at very low cost with good technology.
Last to date is the the Xiaomi Mi Pad 5
It came to challenge the iPad Pro on the market and went directly for their customers. What a surprise for everyone to see something so close to the Apple iPad Pro but about 5 times cheaper !
So what to think ? Is Apple robbing us with nonsense prices while they could sell their iPad way cheaper ? Why is it so expensive ? If Xiaomi can make it this cheap, why Apple cannot ?
After trying both products, and other models like Xiaomi phones vs iPhones you can see some differences but the question will be, are they worth the price ? And this answer comes down to a personal choice.
First of all, and Apple knows this is also a marketing tool : the software. If you have used Apple products and tried the competition you know that Apple software has been created to make it easier for you, to make everything smooth and to avoid crashes.
With other brands you will have to deal with 3rd party OS and tools that are not as reliable as Apple software. It will comes down to details like small crashes, difficulty to scroll from time to time, having to send files by email instead of Airdrop…
I have recently compared the iPhone 12 with Xiaomi MI 9 SE, these two phones have very close specifications with VERY different prices (Xiaomi’s phone is about 5 times cheaper !). While everything is pretty smooth with the Chinese phone from time to time the screen is frozen and I have to wait 10-30 seconds to move it again, things that never happened with the iPhone 12. Battery and camera wise the experience is very close between the 2 phones.
Another thing to consider is using the Apple ecosystem. While I have used it for years I have now decided to migrate to other solutions, including dedicated personal server to avoid relying on any brand to get my data.
This has been a major point to consider in the choice of any device, phone, laptop or tablets. When you finally get rid of the strings tying you to cloud data you are finally free to choose the best product for your use !
