Chinese Company, Xiaomi is planning to overtake Samsung after it surpassed Apple in sales.
Gatekeepers News reports that Canalys, a global market analyst firm, disclosed that Xiaomi surpassed Apple to become the world’s second-biggest smartphone maker for the first time ever.
The Canalys report measures the number of handsets manufacturers sell to distributors.
Xiaomi, according to Canalys data which was released on Thursday, took 17 percent of worldwide smartphone shipments for the second quarter of 2021.
This is behind Samsung’s 19 percent compared with 2020 reports as Xiaomi’s shipments jumped more than 80 percent.
Gatekeepers News reports that Samsung and Apple were the world’s top two smartphone brands in the first quarter of 2021 and throughout 2020. In 2019, Samsung and Huawei topped the list.
Becoming the No. 2 vendor in the world is an “important milestone in Xiaomi’s history,” Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said in a letter to employees on Friday.
“Notwithstanding the celebrations now, I want to make sure we can maintain our second place steadily and firmly in the future,” he said.
Xiaomi’s stock surged nearly 5% in Hong Kong on Friday.
Canalys Research Manager, Ben Stanton in the report, noted that Xiaomi is “growing its overseas business rapidly.”
According to Canalys, Xiaomi’s shipments, during the second quarter, increased more than 300% in Latin America, 150% in Africa and 50% in Western Europe.
Stanton said the Chinese smartphone maker is still largely targeting budget-minded consumers.
He added that compared with Samsung and Apple, Xiaomi’s average selling price is around 40% and 75% cheaper respectively.
“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,” Stanton said.
He attributed one of Xiaomi’s boosts to the improving global economy.
Canalys noted that the vaccine rollout has brought some countries closer to normalcy, and people are spending more money again.
It stated that in the second quarter of 2021, global smartphone shipments increased 12 percent.
Stanton expected that a major priority for Xiaomi this year will be to sell more of its high-end devices, such as the Mi 11 Ultra.
“But it will be a tough battle,” he said, as rivals such as Oppo and Vivo share the same objective.
