How to understand the technological innovation of Xiaomi and Dreame Technology to reshape the central air conditioning market

In the current increasingly competitive central air-conditioning market, the cross-border entry of enterprises has become a trend that cannot be ignored. In 2025, Xiaomi announced its entry into the central air conditioning market, which attracted widespread attention in the industry, and then Dreame Technology, a new star in the field of smart cleaning, was also eager to try.
The entry of the two not only marks the acceleration of technological innovation, but also releases new growth momentum in the stock market. With the downturn in the real estate industry, the central air conditioning market is in a period of adjustment. According to market research reports, the market capacity of multi-online products will be reduced by more than 15% in 2024. This situation is mainly due to the overall decline in the real estate industry, which in turn affects the hardcover and home improvement retail markets. However, in such an industry winter, the entry of Xiaomi and Dreame is particularly interesting. Relying on its ecological chain advantages in the smart home system, Xiaomi launched the Mijia central air conditioner, which seamlessly connects the central air conditioner with the smart home to meet the needs of young consumers for intelligence, functional diversity and design aesthetics. With its experience in the field of intelligent cleaning equipment, Dreame Technology has launched Z-Wind three-stage uniform fresh air conditioner and X-Wind dual-arm air conditioner, which are committed to improving the user experience. From a technical point of view, Dreame has effectively applied its core technology in the field of intelligent technology, especially the dual robotic arm technology, to air conditioning products, and successfully achieved a breakthrough of 6.6 times higher air supply area than traditional air conditioners.
This technological innovation not only improves the air supply efficiency of the air conditioner, but also meets the individual needs of different customers through independent partitioning and precise control of the air outlet, showing its strong technological leadership. The market entry of Xiaomi and Dreame has brought new challenges to traditional air conditioning brands. Well-known HVAC brands on the market, such as Daikin, Midea, Haier, Hitachi, etc., have built a perfect "sales-design-construction-after-sales" service ecological closed loop by virtue of years of market precipitation and customer trust in service quality.
This kind of competitive barrier based on long-term user relationships is an insurmountable mountain for new entrants. Although Xiaomi and Dreame have excelled in product innovation, it remains to be seen whether they can truly disrupt the traditional competitive landscape in the market. Xiaomi's "all-in-one" installation service faces the problem of inefficiency of the outsourced after-sales team, and the cost of maintenance and fault diagnosis reported by users is still high. Although Dreame has reached a strategic cooperation with JD Service to use the latter's logistics and service network for installation and maintenance, the feedback effect of the aftermarket still needs to be tested by time. Industry experts generally believe that the entry of this new force will have a profound impact on the competitive situation of the central air conditioning market. Instead of looking at the future and relying more on price competition, it is better to clearly fight in the high-dimensional market with "technology" and "service" as the core competitiveness.
Traditional brands need to focus on dynamically adjusting their own innovation capabilities, while new entrants need to invest more in building user trust and improving service networks.