A new report coming from research group Canalys is indicating that Xiaomi has over taken Samsung in China to become the number 1 smartphone vendor with Samsung slipping to number 2.
Xiaomi saw sales in the second quarter go up by 240% compared to the previous year. This gave Xioami a 14% market share that edged out Samsung dropping them to second. Samsung’s slide to second in China “reflects rapidly shifting demand toward 4G handsets.â€
As Samsung is seeking to “realign its channel inventory to meet changing demand†for more 4G handsets, it could show improvement in the third quarter. But, Canalys said, “with the market in China becoming even more competitive, it will not be straightforward [for Samsung] to reestablish leadership.â€
I can’t say that the news surprises me much though. Xiaomi has been stepping their game up with some devices that have some serious specs that compete well at a better price. Take the Mi4 for instance. Snapdragon 801 processor at 2.5GHz, 3GB of RAM, 5-inch 1080p display, 13MP camera, 8MP front camera and a 3080 mAh battery with an approximate sale price, according to Hugo Barra, of $320 for the 16GB model or $400 for the 64GB model. That is out-of-pocket price. Then you have the big seller, the RedMi (Red Rice) that floats around $160 with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor.
Seems the talks that Xiaomi is the Chinese equivalent to Apple inc and is the fastest growing handset maker in the world, at the moment.
Source: MarketwatchÂ
