Xiaomi is at it again, and this time, it’s celebrating April Fools' Day with a not-so-subtle jab at Apple. The Chinese smartphone giant recently unveiled a front-page ad in The Economic Times to wish a “Happy April Fools' Day” in advance to anyone who believes that the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s camera is better than its newly launched Xiaomi 15 Ultra.
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And just in case the burn wasn’t deep enough, the brand twisted the knife further by adding, “Every day is April Fools' Day if you fell for it.”
If this feels like déjà vu, that’s because Xiaomi has been having fun at Apple's expense for a while now.
When the Xiaomi 15 series launched in India on March 11, the brand put out a print ad calling the iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera “cute” (the corporate equivalent of patting a competitor on the head) and then flexed its camera features, cheekily suggesting, "Maybe it's time to see through the right lens." Subtle? Not really. Effective? Absolutely.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is the company's latest flagship phone. It has a sleek Silver Chrome finish that was inspired by Leica M-series cameras and optics that were engineered in collaboration with the German brand Leica.
Of course, Xiaomi isn't the first (or last) brand to poke fun at Apple for marketing purposes. Do you recall the backlash Apple faced over its iPad Pro ad?
The commercial, intended to showcase the iPad Pro as the thinnest product Apple has ever created, instead stirred controversy by showing a variety of artistic tools—sculptures, a piano, paints, and even a vinyl record player—being crushed under a massive metal press, only to reveal the sleek iPad Pro at the end. The message? The tablet can replace all those creative tools.
Xiaomi posted its version of the Apple ad but stopped the press just before anything was crushed. It was a promo for the launch of the Xiaomi 14 Civi smartphone in India.
Samsung didn’t waste the opportunity either. It released an advertisement that depicted a woman entering the aftermath of Apple's "crush" ad, acquiring a guitar, and utilising the Samsung Tab S9 to read musical notes and play the instrument.
The tagline? “Creativity cannot be crushed”—a direct dig at Apple while also positioning Samsung as the true champion of creative freedom.
This kind of playful rivalry isn’t just limited to smartphones. Even Pepsi’s halftime show campaign turned into an open invitation for brands to piggyback on the hype—much like how tech brands jump at any chance to poke fun at each other.
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