Xiaomi first came to prominence back in late 2013 with the release of its smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi 3, which came with flagship internals and was sold at a price which was too good to be true, except Xiaomi wasn’t lying about the price. Fast forward a couple of years later, and Xiaomi is doing pretty well especially in China, though it has been gradually losing out in the international market to the likes of Oppo and Huawei. Xiaomi, or also known as the Apple of China, has been slammed with copy cat claims before by Apple’s design chief, Jony Ive back in 2014 when he was asked to describe Xiaomi. This came after the release of Xiaomi’s first tablet device, the Xiaomi Mi Pad. Hugo Barra strongly rejected those accusations and instead claimed that Apple was an ‘inspiration’ to Xiaomi.
Well, it looks like that was not the last time Xiaomi has been accused of copying product designs of other companies, as the company is in trouble once again. This time around, Yves Bhar, who is chief creative director of Jawbone, has accused Xiaomi for copying the design of a speaker which was produced by Jawbone. The company is widely known for its wearable’s, but it also has a range of audio headsets and speakers in its product lineup. Yves Bhar accused Xiaomi on Twitter by tweeting, “Sad for you Xiaomi, ripping off the Jawbone Mini Jambox. Sad.”. The product which the designer tweeted about happens to be Xiaomi’s latest Bluetooth speaker, the Xiaomi Mi Square Box Bluetooth Speaker.
The Mi Square Box Bluetooth Speaker was launched in 2015 and is currently sold in China for around 99 Yuan ($15) and can be bought from online resellers for a higher price, of course. The Jawbone Mini Jambox on the other hand was first launched in 2013 at a retail price of $180, though Mashable has noted that it can be bought for roughly $60 nowadays. When put side by side, the Mi Square Box Bluetooth Speakers looks pretty similar to the Jawbone Mini Jambox in terms of design, especially the speaker grills. However, the placement of buttons on both speakers are pretty different. For comparison, you can check out the image of the two speakers side by side below, with the Jawbone Mini Jambox on the left and the Mi Square Box Bluetooth Speaker on the right.