Apple and Samsung have issued separate legal notices to Xiaomi for making disparaging comparisons between its own phones and those of its bigger rivals in advertisements in India.

The move by the US and South Korean companies, which together have a dominant 95% share of the Indian premium smartphone market, is primarily aimed at protecting their brand value, said people familiar with the matter.

“Xiaomi has been served with cease-and-desist notices by Apple and Samsung for certain advertisements, as it directly hit their brand value,” one of the persons said, asking not to be named.

Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi did not respond to queries.
Apple and Samsung resorting to legal action reflects intense competition for customer share in the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Xiaomi, known mainly for its affordable devices, has been seeking to gain a foothold in the lucrative premium segment.

Experts termed advertisements such as those put out by Xiaomi as ambush marketing, through which companies tend to do comparative advertising. In most such cases, the competitive brands are shown in disparaging light.

While this was acceptable to a certain level earlier, nowadays companies are very cautious of their brand value.

“Today companies are getting more sensitive towards such advertising,” Harish Bijoor, Business & Brand-strategy specialist told ET. “The brand value that each of the brand commands is significant as Apple and Samsung are big players.”

“Any kind of either a comparative nature or a disparaging nature is found to be a brand hurting and, therefore, brands protect their valuation very dearly,” he said.

Xiaomi came out with full-page print advertisements in March and April, directly targeting Apple’s then latest smartphone model iPhone 16 Pro Max. Through the advertisements, the Chinese firm directly compared the pricing and other specifications of the iPhone with its 15 Ultra model and questioned if the iPhone was really the best.

Xiaomi adopted a similar strategy against Samsung on social media, directly hitting a few models of the Korean major. Subsequently, both Apple and Samsung served cease-and- desist notices to the Chinese company.

“This cease-and-desist notice is a way to ensure that no more harm is done by the competitor. But from a Xiaomi perspective, it has already reaped the harvest,” said Bijoor.

As per market researcher IDC, Apple and Samsung command around 95% share of the smartphone market above ₹50,000 while Xiaomi has less than 1%. Through such advertisements, Xiaomi provoked the bigger rivals where it hurt them the most, said experts.

Not only smartphones, Xiaomi targeted Samsung’s LED televisions (TVs) as well. Similar to its strategy against Apple, Xiaomi issued full-page advertisements comparing the pricing and specifications of Samsung LED TVs with its own QLED TVs, stressing the point that people can get the future-ready technology at the same price of what is being offered by Samsung for old technology.

Unlike smartphones, Xiaomi is a close competitor to LG and Samsung in the TV segment. As per IDC, Xiaomi is in the top three in smart TVs in India, very close to LG and Samsung.

Despite the legal challenge by Apple and Samsung, experts feel such types of ambush marketing will continue to happen in India as there are no laws to prevent it.

So far, companies have been issuing cease-and-desist notices but if the situation worsens, they might start asking for compensation for eroding brand value though it would involve a lengthy legal process.