Apple lost a lot of ground in China in 2016. Apple's iOS lost 8.9% in the last three months ending in February, marking its lowest share since 2014. Aggressive pricing from China's Oppo, Vivo helped propel these vendors to the top vendors in China pushing Apple to forth. Samsung's J series line came on strong in Q1 2017 to put Samsung back on top of the smartphone volume leaders. Today Xiaomi debuted their new Mi 6 with spec that makes Apple's iPhone SE look behind the times overnight and even gives the iPhone 7 a run with a price tag of only $360 with 64GB or $435 for Xiaomi's high-end Mi 6 edition made of ceramic.

Xiaomi was forced to push the pedal to the metal with this new smartpthone in order to fight their way back into the top four smartphone vendors list in China. The new smartphone offers a 5.5" display, a 12-megapixel dual rear camera like Apple's iPhone 7-Plus and offers a portrait style option with the Bokeh effect too, as our cover graphic illustrates quite nicely.

The new Mi 6 even offers a fingerprint scanner that's technically under the display, something Apple may introduce for the iPhone 8 even though rumors state that Apple suppliers are having problems with that feature. If Xiaomi could pull it off, can't Apple? Then again, Apple's proposed methodology is a little more sophisticated (one and two).

The new Mi 6 offers four-sided 3D glass with subtle curved edges will give the new Samsung S8 a run for its money. Apple's iPhone 8 is bound to be a smash hit in Q4, but the question will be, can they regain any ground against the aggressive Chinese vendors that offering equal quality for more than half the price.

Apple needs to take their second tier iPhone SE to a new level because as it stands, it's becoming a joke in Apple's second largest market in the world. That's as clear as day.

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