Highlights:
- Xiaomi has surpassed Apple in terms of smartphone sales.
- Xiaomi is giving a tough competition to Samsung to gain the top spot.
- For the first time, Xiaomi is in the top two.
Xiaomi has surpassed Apple as the world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer benefited from the loss of local rival Huawei and is now posing a threat to Samsung’s number one position. According to Canalys’ most recent data, Xiaomi was the world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer in terms of sales in the second quarter of 2021. Samsung, a South Korean smartphone manufacturer, continues to lead with a 19% market share, but Xiaomi has closed the gap significantly and now has a 17% market share during the same time period.
Xiaomi’s shipments in Latin America climbed by more than 300 percent, by 150 percent in Africa, and by 50 percent in Western Europe. Xiaomi’s goal, according to Canalys, should be to increase sales of its top-of-the-line phones like the Mi 11 Ultra, but the smartphone maker will continue to face competition from other Chinese firms with the same goal, such as Oppo and Vivo.
However, the data imply that, at this rate, Xiaomi has a decent chance of overtaking Samsung and becoming the world’s top smartphone brand. This is the first time Xiaomi has managed to unseat Samsung or Apple from the top two positions. The advent of the Note 10 and Mi series smartphones in the mid-premium sector contributed significantly to the company’s growth.
Apple has been pushed to fourth place with 14% market share, while Oppo and vivo both have 10% and are growing rapidly – although nothing compares to Xiaomi’s 83.3% increase in Q2 2020.
The majority of companies have moved to fill the void created by Huawei’s departure from the premium smartphone market. Huawei had recently displaced Apple and taken over second place among smartphone manufacturers. Soon later, however, sanctions were imposed on the company, and it eventually departed the high-end luxury phone market.
Since then, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and others have rushed to fill the void. It would be interesting to see if Xiaomi can maintain its lead over the next few quarters amid growing competition.
“When compared to Samsung and Apple, its average selling price is roughly 40% and 75% lower,” according to Canalys Research Manager Ben Stanton. “This year, Xiaomi’s top priority is to increase sales of its high-end gadgets, such as the Mi 11 Ultra. However, it will be a difficult battle, as both Oppo and Vivo have the same goal and are ready to spend heavily on above-the-line marketing to promote their brands in a way that Xiaomi is not.”
Apple and Samsung are both preparing for new handset launches in the coming months, thus the second quarter is generally their slowest period. According to Bloomberg, Apple has requested suppliers to produce up to 90 million next-generation iPhones this year, a significant increase beyond planned 2020 iPhone shipments.
