Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has unveiled two flagship phablets in Beijing on Thursday, comparing them directly with Apple's largest iPhones.
Chief executive Lei Jun introduced the Mi Note, saying it was shorter, thinner and lighter than the iPhone 6 Plus.
Priced at 2,299 yuan ($371; £244), the 16 gigabyte model is less than half the price of Apple's handset and Samsung's phablet, the Galaxy Note 4.
Analysts say Xiaomi became the world's third bestselling phone firm in 2014.
The firm - which was only founded in 2010 - announced that the Mi Note was 6.95mm (0.27in) thick and weighed 161g (5.7oz).
That makes it 1.05mm thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus and 11g lighter.
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It also features a 13 megapixel rear camera, made by Sony, and a 4MP front one.
In addition, Xiaomi announced the higher-end MiNote Pro, which will be released at a later date. It has:
- a higher resolution 2K display (515 pixels per inch)
- a faster 64 bit Snapdragon processor and 4G chip, which is capable of 450 megabits per second (Mbps) downloads
- more RAM memory (4GB)
- 64GB of built-in storage
It will retail for 3,299 yuan ($532; £350).
Price war
Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics research at the Euromonitor consultancy said the flagship devices basically extended what Xiaomi was good at - models that were targeted at Apple and Samsung, the only firms that still outsell it.
"The new models are definitely an upgrade compared to their predecessors - Xiaomi desperately needed to refresh its line-up to keep up with its competitors," he said.
"Xiaomi definitely triumphs its competitors on its pricing."
The Beijing-based firm overtook global market leader Samsung last year to become the top-selling handset brand in the world's largest smartphone market, China.
Just last month, Xiaomi was also dubbed the world's most valuable "technology start-up" after it raised $1.1bn (£708m) in a funding round, giving it a valuation of $45bn.
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