Xiaomi mocks Realme for copying its brand initiative: Here’s what went down

Tech brands calling each other out or mocking each other is not new. Apple and Microsoft have been taking digs at each other for years. The latest in this lot of a war of words is Xiaomi and Realme. Xiaomi and Relame’s rivalry goes way back, particularly on the Indian turf. Recently, Xiaomi took another step ahead and decided to call Realme out on things they think Realme is copying from them. In a tweet, Sneha Tainwala, Director at Redmi Business, mentioned how Realme has copied Xiaomi’s Mi Fan Festival idea and has launched their own Realme Fan Festival followed by the Reame Entrepreneurship Program. The latter also seems inspired by Xiaomi India’s Grow with Mi initiative.

Realme and Xiaomi have been battling it out over products for a while now but this is one of the few times when one brand has directly attacked the other. “Mi Fan Festival" >> "#CopyCat Fan Festival". It has now stopped being funny. Kitna copy karoge @MadhavSheth1 sir? Waise event page mock up bhijwaon - will save your team some time” Tainwala tweeted tagging Realme CEO Madhav Sheth in her post.

Tainwala also posted another tweet about Realme copying Xiaomi’s entrepreneurship program and said - “Usually a brand that copies almost everything we do, offends me. However, I feel good about this one.”

CMO of Realme India and Europe Francis Wong responded to Tainwala’s tweet with - “Sigh. Can’t believe this is coming out from a director of a proper brand. It’s time for everyone to focus on their own business. keep our mouth shut and let products speak. PS: Comments of that tweet made me understand how users gonna feel if your brand is talking like that.”

This is not the first time Xiaomi has called Realme a “copycat” brand. Xiaomi Global VP and India MD Manu Jain used the same term back in January last year for the rival. And Realme is also not a company that’s been mum. Sheth had mocked Xiaomi indirectly during the Realme 3 launch event in 2019 when he had said - “We don’t sell ads, we sell phones.” That claim did not go down well since Realme also started serving ads on its phones later that very year.

However, time round Realme seems to be taking the high road, for now and has not said anything nasty in return yet.