Xiaomi takes No 3 spot in global smartphone market share

Mainland consumer electronics start-up Xiaomi saw its steady domestic and international expansion pay off in the third quarter as it moved ahead of bigger competitors to become the world's third-largest smartphone supplier.

The Beijing-based company, which has been criticised for alleged blatant copying of Apple's iPhone and iPad, more than tripled the volume of its smartphone shipments to 18 million units in the quarter to September, good enough to seize a 6 per cent global market share, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

In a separate report, IDC estimated Xiaomi shipped 17.3 million smartphones in the past quarter to gain a 5.3 per cent share.

That performance apparently justified the bet made on Xiaomi by a syndicate of 29 banks, which have agreed to provide a three-year US$1 billion loan to the four-year-old company. This transaction, which will close today, marked Xiaomi's initial borrowing from overseas banks after several fund-raising rounds with investors.

The proceeds from that hefty loan are expected to be used by the company to accelerate its international expansion plans.

Founded in April 2010, Xiaomi has forecast an ambitious sales target of about 100 million smartphones next year from an estimated 60 million units this year as it widened the scope of its operations.

"We expect [mainland] China, India and Indonesia to be Xiaomi's big three markets in 2015," said Neil Mawston, an executive director at Strategy Analytics. "The 4G segment is the fastest-growing category for Xiaomi worldwide, driven by the strong demand in China's emerging 4G mobile market."