Xiaomi Shamelessly Copies iPhone Naming — Say Hello to Xiaomi 17 Pro Max

Xiaomi has decided to copy Apple, in a way, there’s really no other way to pitch this. The upcoming flagship smartphone lineup from Xiaomi will be called the Xiaomi 17 series, instead of the Xiaomi 16 series.

Xiaomi is copying Apple by ditching the Xiaomi 16 name and adopting the same naming structure

The company has decided to ditch the Xiaomi 16 name in favor of Xiaomi 17. That much has been announced by Lu Weibing, a Xiaomi exec. He’s not even running away from the fact Apple is the reason behind the change.

In his post on Weibo, a Chinese social media network, Lu Weibing said that Xiaomi will be “aligning” itself “with the iPhone”, five years after Xiaomi announced its “premium strategy”. Lu Weibing praised Apple, but also said that Xiaomi is looking forward to facing it head-on.

So, Xiaomi is doing this because it doesn’t want to be perceived as being behind Apple, we’re guessing. If the company announced the Xiaomi 16 series, it would be in the same generation as the iPhone 17, but be perceived as being behind.

Lu Weibing did not put it that way, but that’s what we’re getting from this. That’s not where this ends, however. He also announced that the names of the upcoming products will be the Xiaomi 17, Xiaomi 17 Pro, and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. As many of you know, the Apple iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max launched recently, alongside the iPhone Air.

This is not a good look for Xiaomi

If Xiaomi only went for the ‘17’ naming, we’d understand that. Many people would. The company would not want to be perceived as being behind. However, copying the naming of the devices themselves, well. It’s not a good look for Xiaomi.

Chinese companies usually skip the number ‘4’ when it comes to naming their products. Why? Well, the number ‘4’ is considered to be unlucky in China. So it’s not odd to see it skipped at times. This doesn’t have anything to do with it, though, obviously.

The Xiaomi 17 series will launch in China later this month. That was also confirmed. The global launch will have to wait, however. It probably won’t happen until Q1 next year.