Apple Intelligence gets a Xiaomi tribute act with 'thoughtful' Super Xiao AI assistant

Xiaomi unveils Super Xiao AI
The AI assistant looks incredibly similar to Apple Intelligence
This wouldn’t be the first time Xiaomi has taken inspiration from Apple

Xiaomi has unveiled its next-generation AI assistant, Super Xiao AI, and it looks… very familiar.

The upgraded AI voice assistant is “thoughtful and capable” of handling more complex tasks than the previous version of Xiao AI, Xiaomi says. The new voice assistant also looks incredibly similar to Apple Intelligence; it could almost be a direct clone of the Cupertino giant’s own AI feature suite.

When typing text into Super Xiao AI, you’ll immediately see the similarities with Apple Intelligence’s Type to Siri feature – even the shape of the text box and logo placement are the same. One user on X also demonstrated the similarities between Super Xiao AI and Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools.

so xiaomi’s new “xiaoai” intelligence just released…does this look familiar? lol pic.twitter.com/A1moE3NvnqNovember 13, 2024

Judging by the above, Xiaomi’s AI Writing feature is a borderline copy/paste job of Apple’s UI; it even includes the new ability to enter prompts to direct the AI writing tool, just like the new update to Writing Tools in iOS 18.2.

Super Xiao AI is part of a wider software update coming to the best Xiaomi phones running HyperOS 2, including the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 14.

Not the first time

Pictures of the Xiaomi HyperOS

Xiaomi HyperOS in action (Image credit: GSMArena)

This isn’t the first time the Chinese company has taken inspiration from its North American competition. Xiaomi’s MIUI operating system looked incredibly similar to Apple’s Control Center design iOS 17, and the company even adopted similar UI elements in the MIUI Camera app and Settings.

It’s not a surprise to see brands copy Apple’s gorgeous UI design, but Xiaomi’s approach is so blatantly obvious that it can often take away from the company’s excellent products. While I’ve heard many tech journalists rave about Xiaomi smartphones (we ourselves described the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, for instance, as the “king of the camera phones”), as an iPhone user, I’m more familiar with the company’s attempts to clone iOS than I am with Xiaomi devices.

To quote Oscar Wilde, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” But why does a company that is so far above mediocrity continue to imitate? Super Xiao AI might end up trumping Apple Intelligence as the best AI voice assistant, but it will be hard for the AI model to ever get rid of its tag as an Apple clone.