Xiaomi launched new Civi 2 series today in China. It is the vendor’s latest efforts to attack female segment. Xiaomi has been eyeing the user group for long and has not yet generated significant breakthrough. The Civi 2 series has provided some answers on vendor’s latest product strategies towards the female group:
- First, selfie is the most important selling point. Civi 2 comes with dual camera module (32MP + 32MP) at front, upgrading from the single camera module (32MP) spotted on Civi 1s. This is the most noticeable improvement of the model, and it is also the most-heavily-promoted feature of Civi 2 towards the mass market.
- Second, hardware competitive is less relevant. The new model is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 gen 1, while its predecessor Civi 1s is powered by Snapdragon 778G+. Both are mid-range chipset, resulting to moderate hardware competitiveness of Civi series in their price tiers.
- Third, cuteness is the the key design language. The blingbling colour, the cute name of different colour variants, and the co-branding with “Hello Kitty” all suggest that Civi 2 is eyeing for teenage girls and young female at their 20s. Meitu used to create hypes and win the segment by this strategy, and Xiaomi is clearly trying to learn the success story.
The retail price of Civi 2 will start from CNY 2399 (USD 335), roughly 4% higher than that of Civi 1s. It is understandable under current industry environment. The new model hit China market from today (September 27th, 2022). It is likely that Xiaomi will bring it to overseas market as a lite model under Mi series.
We expect Civi 2 will compete head-to-head with OPPO’s Reno series, vivo’s S series, and Honor’s number series in China. Given its positioning and its price-to-performance ratio, offline market will be its main battlefield. We do not expect Civi 2 will generate significant volume for Xiaomi, because we consider Xiaomi’s brand power remains soft among targeted consumers. In addition, we do not expect Civi 2 will received equivalent marketing budget as its rivals do.
