Xiaomi Surpasses Apple as World’s No. 2 Smartphone Maker

All of the other Chinese smartphone brands have benefited from Huawei’s international demise (except Honor), but none more than Xiaomi, and today’s news comes to confirm this fact yet again. According to Canalys, in the second quarter of 2021, Xiaomi was the second-biggest smartphone maker globally in terms of sales. This marks the first occasion that Xiaomi, the Chinese maker of everything from rice cookers to gaming monitors, has broken into the top two, historically dominated by Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc.

Huawei, of course, is nowhere to be seen among the top companies. It’s a pretty massive drop, due in no small part to blacklisting that has both barred the company from certain markets (namely, the U.S.) and cut off access to U.S. mobile products, including Google’s Android and various apps.

As you can see, Samsung is still No.1 with a 19% market share, although Xiaomi is really breathing down its neck at this point with its 17% cut.

Xiaomi’s shipments increased more than 300% in Latin America, 150% in Africa, and 50% in Western Europe. That said, its average sales price per unit is still 40% less than that of Samsung and 75% less when compared to Apple, although the company has recently launched more premium devices and is clearly hoping to drive that number up in the future.

Canalys says Xiaomi’s objective should be to grow sales of its top of the line phones like the Mi 11 Ultra, but it might prove challenging since Oppo and Vivo have practically the exact same goal, and unlike Xiaomi, they seem to be willing to spend much more on conventional marketing.

If its growth continues at a steady pace, Xiaomi may very well overtake Samsung and become the world’s No.1 smartphone vendor in due course. Apple is at 14% currently, while Oppo and Vivo each have 10% with great growth as well – though nothing that compares to Xiaomi’s 83% over Q2 2020.

The company certainly isn’t a household name in the States (the company has dealt with its own issues here), but of late it has found particular success in Latin America, Africa, and Western Europe. It seems that there are still plenty of markets available to continue its expansion as it looks to take on Samsung, even as Oppo and Vivo hope to continue their own respective rapid global growth.