Xiaomi might be just 1% away from being the top smartphone brand
Eric Zeman / Android Authority
TL; DR
- An updated market share report found that Xiaomi is only 1% behind Samsung for the second quarter of 2021.
- Xiaomi also achieved the highest growth of any company in the top 5.
Xiaomi has played a role lately when a Canalys report for the second quarter of 2021 showed it was overtaken by Apple to second in the world in terms of smartphone market share. Now the tracking company has updated this report to show that the Chinese brand is actually much closer to taking first place.
The updated report still shows that Samsung is still at the top with 58 million phones shipped and 18% of the market. But it also shows that Xiaomi consolidated its second place, shipping 52.8 million units in the quarter, which is 17% of the market. That means Xiaomi is only 1% behind Samsung, as opposed to 2% in the original report.
Does this mean that Xiaomi could win the crown in the third quarter of 2021? Well, the company’s year-over-year growth was much higher than that of Samsung (8%) and other manufacturers in the top 5 at 83%. The Korean company is also expected to have the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3 on the Bring market. This isn’t necessarily a volume-driven segment, but it seems like Samsung has high hopes for these devices.
That said, Xiaomi’s expansion into new markets and its value-driven Redmi line are well positioned to take the top spot. A potential obstacle for Xiaomi is the industry-wide chip shortage, which has forced some brands to abandon phones or limit launches to certain markets.
Otherwise, Apple took third place with a 14% market share and 45.7 million units shipped. Oppo (10%) and Vivo (10%) rounded off the top 5 with 32.6 million and 31.2 million units delivered, respectively.
Do you think Xiaomi can overtake Samsung for the top spot? Let us know via the poll above.
