Xiaomi Becomes Number One Smartphone Brand Globally for First Time Ever

Xiaomi surpassed Samsung and Apple in June 2021 to become the number one smartphone brand in the world for the first time ever, according to Counterpoint Research’s Monthly Market Pulse Service. Xiaomi’s sales grew 26% MoM in June 2021, making it the fastest-growing brand for the month. Xiaomi was also the number two brand globally for Q2 2021 in terms of sales, and cumulatively, has sold close to 800 million smartphones since its inception in 2011.

Commenting on the market dynamics that led to Xiaomi attaining pole position, Research Director Tarun Pathak noted,

“Ever since the decline of Huawei commenced, Xiaomi has been making consistent and aggressive efforts to fill the gap created by this decline. The OEM has been expanding in Huawei’s and HONOR’s legacy markets like China, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In June, Xiaomi was further helped by China, Europe and India’s recovery and Samsung’s decline due to supply constraints.”

Photo by Toro Tseleng

Commenting on the China market and Samsung supply constraints, Senior Analyst Varun Mishra said,

“China’s market grew 16% MoM in June driven by the 618 festival, with Xiaomi being the fastest growing OEM, riding on its aggressive offline expansion in lower-tier cities and solid performance of its Redmi 9, Redmi Note 9 and the Redmi K series. At the same time, due to a fresh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, Samsung’s production was disrupted in June, which resulted in the brand’s devices facing shortages across channels. Xiaomi, with its strong mid-range portfolio and wide market coverage, was the biggest beneficiary from the short-term gap left by Samsung’s A series.”

Going forward, if the situation in Vietnam does not improve, Samsung’s production is likely to remain hit with Xiaomi continuing to gain share from the Korean brand. However, once Samsung recovers, the ranks are likely to shuffle again.