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Lei Jun, chief executive of China's smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. Xiaomi has surpassed Samsung and other domestic brands to become the leading supplier of smartphones on the mainland. Photo: Xinhua

Xiaomi trumps Samsung to take No 1 spot in the mainland smartphone market

Beijing-based technology company Xiaomi has surpassed Samsung Electronics and three major domestic brands to become the leading supplier of smartphones on the mainland, market research firm Canalys said.

Beijing-based technology company Xiaomi has surpassed Samsung Electronics and three major domestic brands to become the leading supplier of smartphones on the mainland, market research firm Canalys said.

Founded by technology entrepreneur Lei Jun in 2010, Xiaomi was also ranked by Canalys as the world’s fifth-largest smartphone supplier in terms of shipments in the second quarter, behind Samsung, Apple, Huawei Technologies and Lenovo.

“This is a phenomenal achievement for Xiaomi,” Shanghai-based Canalys research analyst Wang Jingwen said. Wang pointed out that Xiaomi “executed on its strategy to grow volume shipments” through targeted marketing and an aggressive pricing strategy on the mainland, where it sold 97 per cent of its smartphones during that period to gain a 14 per cent market share.

Another market research firm, Strategy Analytics first reported last month that Xiaomi had overtaken LG Electronics to seize fifth place among the world’s top-selling smartphone brands in the three months ended June 30, with a 5 per cent global market share.

Technology research companies IDC and Gartner, however, both ranked LG as the world’s No 5 smartphone supplier in separate reports published last month.

Canalys estimated that eight mainland brands – Xiaomi, Lenovo, Coolpad, Huawei, BBK, ZTE, Oppo and K-Touch – accounted together for a total of 70.7 million smartphones shipped on the mainland last quarter. Samsung and Apple, the only international vendors in the domestic top 10, combined for shipments of 20 million units.

Jessica Kwee, a Canalys analyst in Singapore, said Xiaomi’s next step should be “to build its international brand” and deliver 4G smartphones on the mainland, where all three domestic mobile network operators are building 4G networks.

Privately held Xiaomi, which took in US$216 million from its third round of fundraising last year, has been selling its 3G phones in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The company is now looking to expand into other markets, with Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and Turkey in its sights for the second half of this year.

Hugo Barra, vice-president at Xiaomi Global, said in March that the company has discussed a wider co-operation with the telecommunications business of Hutchison Whampoa.

The Hong Kong conglomerate has mobile operations across the Asia-Pacific, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Australia, where its local subsidiary has a 50 per cent stake in joint venture Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

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