Huawei and Xiaomi Banter Over Car Accessories

On April 11, during the spring communication conference of the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Yu Chengdong, Chairman of Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU, made a bold statement. He emphasized that HarmonyOS enables seamless integration of smartphone applications into vehicles, eliminating the need for a phone holder. Yu Chengdong remarked, “I used to wonder why many cars still need a phone holder. Later, I understood. It turns out that it’s due to the inadequate navigation performance of the cars, so people use phone navigation with holders. With Huawei’s car, there’s no need for a phone holder or phone navigation.”

In response, Lei Jun, the founder and chairman of Xiaomi Group, took to social media. He posted on Weibo, acknowledging Yu Chengdong’s playful jab at Xiaomi’s original phone holder design during the conference. Lei Jun promptly initiated an online poll regarding the design of Xiaomi’s original phone holder for the SU7 model, inviting netizens to express their support or opposition to its design. The results indicated that the majority of netizens supported Xiaomi’s original phone holder design for the SU7.

Reflecting on the Xiaomi Car launch event on March 28, Lei Jun highlighted numerous highlights of the SU7 model in terms of user-centric design and space utilization. He mentioned that the SU7 boasts a total of 32 storage spaces, catering comprehensively to users’ daily storage needs. Among them, the original phone holder specially designed on one side of the steering wheel stands out. Lei Jun humorously remarked during the event, “Existing cars don’t have a designated phone holder design. As a smartphone manufacturer, we have to address this.”

This design detail received enthusiastic applause from the live audience at the time. Xiaomi Car positions the deep integration of smartphones and cars as a competitive advantage in its smart ecosystem construction.