14 DAY TRIAL // There was a time when Huawei was dreaming about becoming the world’s number one smartphone market, as the company had an ambitious plan to overtake both Apple and Samsung and therefore take over the crown in this highly competitive market.
As we all know already, Huawei’s long-term strategy hit major roadblocks, but it’s another Chinese company the one that’s making history right now and surpassing both Apple and Xiaomi.
Data provided by Counterpoint shows that Xiaomi is now the world’s number one phone brand with a share of no less than 17.1 percent, followed by Samsung with 15.7 percent. Apple is third with 14.3 percent.
According to the research firm, Xiaomi has shipped nearly 800 million smartphone since its debut in this market 10 years ago.
“Xiaomi surpassed Samsung and Apple in June 2021 to become the number one smartphone brand in the world for the first time ever, according to Counterpoint Research’s Monthly Market Pulse Service. Xiaomi’s sales grew 26% MoM in June 2021, making it the fastest-growing brand for the month. Xiaomi was also the number two brand globally for Q2 2021 in terms of sales, and cumulatively, has sold close to 800 million smartphones since its inception in 2011,” Counterpoint explains.
Xiaomi benefitting from Huawei’s drop
Unsurprisingly, Huawei’s decline helped Xiaomi grow so much, with the research firm explaining the company expanded substantially especially in the largest markets where Huawei has until recently been the dominant brand.
“Ever since the decline of Huawei commenced, Xiaomi has been making consistent and aggressive efforts to fill the gap created by this decline. The OEM has been expanding in Huawei’s and HONOR’s legacy markets like China, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In June, Xiaomi was further helped by China, Europe and India’s recovery and Samsung’s decline due to supply constraints,” Research Director Tarun Pathak.
It remains to be seen, however, if Xiaomi manages to maintain its leading spot in the long term.