Xiaomi unveiled its brand new CC series in Beijing China on July 2nd 2019 and launched Mi CC9, Mi CC 9e, and a special Meitu-branded CC 9 model. Analysts from Strategy Analytics’ Device team attended the launch event.
The new CC series is a mid-tier lineup housed under Mi brand and target young female consumers. It enriches Xiaomi’s Mi brand, by complementing the existing premium male-oriented Mix series and high-end Number series.
CC 9 and CC 9e are the first two Mi-branded models in the new series. They share similar hardware specifications with Mi 9 and Mi 9 SE, including the AMOLED display from Samsung, the main camera at rear from Sony, and the latest on-display fingerprint sensors. They are different however in chipset, camera, and battery size.
- CC 9 and 9e are powered by Snapdragon 710 and Snapdragon 665 respectively, downgraded from Snapdragon 855 in Mi 9 and Snapdragon 712 in Mi 9 SE. This may weaken gaming experience of the device, which is a key use case for targeted group.
- CC 9 and 9e come with 32MP front camera, upgraded from 16MP front camera used in Mi 9 series. This enables better selfie experience, which is essential to female consumers according to Xiaomi. CC 9 series features large 4030mAh battery, upgrading from ~3000mAh battery in Mi 9 series. This is a welcoming feature to young consumers.
The price of CC 9 ranges between RMB 1799 and RMB 1999 at retail, depending on the memory size. CC 9e is priced between RMB 1299 to RMB 1599 at retail. Given their consumer positioning and pricing strategy, we expect Xiaomi’s CC 9 series will compete head-to-head with Huawei nova light series, OPPO A series, vivo Y series, for the mindset and the wallet of young female consumers in mid-tier segment. The competition in female segment will be further intensified in China 2019.
In addition to that, Xiaomi’s partnership with Meitu also bears fruits. In the launch event, Xiaomi introduced its first Meitu-branded model after licensing the brand in 2019.
The new mode is called Meitu CC 9. As the name suggests, it is a combination of hardware specification of CC 9 and Meitu’s imaging expertise in software side. All the cameras on the model have Meitu’s proprietary algorithm embedded and the device comes with customized Meitu UI developed on top of MIUI.
It is positioned as a high-end model with RMB 2599 as the retail price. It is roughly 40% more expensive than that of standard CC 9 model, and the premium is paid for Meitu technology and upgraded memory size.
Mi CC 9, Mi CC 9e, Meitu CC 9 will be available in China via the existing Xiaomi distribution channels in July. While we are impressed by the device, we are concerned on the effectiveness of Xiaomi’s existing channel structure to reach the targeted consumers. For example, despite CC 9’s strong focus on female consumers, majority of yesterday participants at the event male Mi fans. Taking into the consideration of Xiaomi’s week brand equity in female group, long-term investment and efforts for the brand refreshment are required.