In a new report, the Chinese-based smartphone giant Xiaomi has surpassed Apple to become the biggest smartphone vendor in the world behind Samsung.
The report comes from the analyst firm Canalys where they found that for the first time ever, Xiaomi has surpassed the Cupertino-based giant in smartphone sales in Q2 2021. Putting Apple now in third place behind Samsung, and Xiaomi.
Ben Stanton ”“ Research Manager at Canalys said that due to Xiaomi’s massive growth, expansion into more regions, and the fact that their smartphones are 75% cheaper than the competition led to the success of becoming the number two vendor:
“Xiaomi is growing its overseas business rapidly … For example, its shipments increased more than 300% in Latin America, 150% in Africa, and 50% in Western Europe. And as it grows, it evolves. It is now transforming its business model from challenger to incumbent, with initiatives such as channel partner consolidation and more careful management of older stock in the open market. It is still largely skewed toward the mass market, however, and compared with Samsung and Apple, its average selling price is around 40% and 75% cheaper respectively.”
Staton also said that while the Chinese-based company is enjoying its success due to cheaper devices, it is having a harder time producing high-end smartphones to match the competition:
“So a major priority for Xiaomi this year is to grow sales of its high-end devices, such as the Mi 11 Ultra. But it will be a tough battle, with Oppo and Vivo sharing the same objective, and both willing to spend big on above-the-line marketing to build their brands in a way that Xiaomi is not. All vendors are fighting hard to secure component supply amid global shortages, but Xiaomi already has its sights set on the next prize: displacing Samsung to become the world’s largest vendor.”
If this status-quo remains unchanged, Xiaomi is on its way to dethrone Samsung and take the number one spot, but in two months things could change if Apple succeeds in convincing consumers to purchase the upcoming iPhone 13 lineup which will have four variants in different price points.
The iPhone 13 is expected to debut in September with four variants: the cheapest iPhone 13 mini, the regular iPhone 13, the higher-end iPhone 13 Pro, and the most expensive iPhone 13 Pro Max.
