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Xiaomi retakes top spot in China - Report
June 19, 2025
Xiaomihas retaken the top spot in theChinese smartphone marketahead of rivals, both domestic and international according to reports from two analyst firms. If accurate, the reports mean that Xiaomi hasreplaced Apple atop the pile, with the Cupertino company dropping to third and Chinese conglomerateHuaweitaking second place.
Analyst firm Canalys’ report that Xiaomi shipped 15.9 percent of all smartphones in China duringQ2 2015with Apple dropping to third and HUAWEI taking second place with 15.7 percent of shipments. HUAWEI’s growth is interesting as it was spurred by 48 percent quarter-on-quarter growth in sales of (sub-brand) HONOR smartphones.
[related_videos title=”Xiaomi/HUAWEI in video:” align=”right” type=”custom” videos=”621025,594382,617012,613020,604157,586544″]Naturally, all analyst data is open for interpretation but a separate report from Counterpoint Research corroborates that Xiaomi has retaken the top spot. Counterpoint suggest that Xiaomi took first place with 15.8 percent market share, ahead of HUAWEI (15.4 percent) and Apple (12.2 percent). Counterpoint then placedVivoin fourth on 8.1 percent (250 percent year-on-year growth) withSamsungcoming in fifth.
Apple’s decline is only likely to be temporary with both analyst firms recognising that theiPhone 6andiPhone 6 Plusare no longer new to market and are expected to be replaced in just over a month’s time. Given that Apple’s smartphones continue to perform well – even better than Samsung’s newGalaxy S6andGalaxy S6 Edgewhich launched during Q2 – any new devices are likely to challenge new devices expected fromSamsung, HUAWEI andLG(amongst others) later this year.
Samsung’s strategy ofintroducing new, much slimmer smartphones first in Chinadoesn’t seem to be paying off as increased competition from Xiaomi and HUAWEI is attacking the company’s portfolio. While Samsung struggles in the increasingly-competitive market, Xiaomi has bounced back after a couple of uninspiring launches – theMi NoteandRedmi 2were the top devices in the quarter – andHuawei’s HONOR brandcontinues to offer impressive devices (like theHONOR 7) at an affordable price.
In a statement toTechCrunch, Canalys analyst Jingwen Wang, said:
The Chinese market – which is the world’s largest for smartphones – continues to very slowly grow and has seen most manufacturers target the country as a source of new revenues and adoption. For Samsung, the lack of success of its current strategy may see the company adopt an alternative approach for theGalaxy Note 5andGalaxy S6 Edge Pluswhile rumoured HUAWEI devices including theHUAWEI Nexuscould provide a stern challenge for Xiaomi later this year.
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