Samsung’s latest smartphone, Galaxy Note 7, brought the company cosmic misfortunes. The device, which tended to explode (often dangerously near the unsuspecting owners) was discontinued in October. That was after Samsung tried to issue replacement phones that, alas, also got on fire. To be honest, I downplayed the importance of Note 7’s demise until I saw pictures of the smartphone all over the airport in Korea. On the plane, the flight attendant gave Note 7 safety instruction as well. The scope of Samsung’s mistake is so large that its reputation is taking a serious hit. People used to prize Samsung’s reliability, which is now under question. According to the The Guardian, the whole affair is already financially costly for Samsung and the challenge now is to not scare consumers away from buying other Samsung products. The company that supposingly benefits from Samsung failure is its long-standing rival Apple, which issued iPhone 7 at the same time as Samsung issued Note 7. However, it seems like Apple is also going downhill. In September Apple released a new operating system IOS 10. Since then the system was met with various complaints including shorter battery life and disappearing of health data. Although Apple is fixing some bugs, some users are just annoyed with the new features. According to Twitter posts, the new unlock design is especially frustrating . People who swiped to unlock for years are now trying to adjust. The iPhone 7 also received negative reviews. The main disadvantage is that the smartphone does not have a headphone jack. Users now need to transfer to wireless earbuds, which is not the most comfortable option for everyone. Furthermore, according to Forbes, Apple’s own wireless AirPods that were going to come out shortly after the iPhone, are delayed into 2017. Overall, the iPhone 7 is an update from iPhone 6, but it’s a bit too controversial and not as significant as many would have liked. The good news is , the Xiaomi Mi Mix may be a solution to Samsung/Apple downfall. Xiaomi Mi Mix is soon to be on sale and it’s too early to call it the best smartphone. Yet Mi Mix features an innovative design: 91.3% screen to body ratio and a sleek ceramic body with curved corners. Rumors say that iPhone 8 is going to have a large screen and curved corners as well. It is shocking, but Mi Mix may make iPhone 8 less glorious. Mi Mix is going to cost $516 (compare that to $649, the price of iPhone 7) and if it ends up as amazing as advertised, Mi Mix will become a better alternative to iPhone 7. Recently Xiaomi released its Mi5 model, which received plenty of positive reviews. Mi5 is a cheaper version of Samsung Galaxy S7 that does not compromise on quality. Seeing the Mi5’s success, it is not hard to imagine that Mi Mix is going to attract even more attention from outside China. Thumbs up to Xiaomi!This article was written by Mira Yoo. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Maya Wang