HUAWEI takes Chinese top spot from Xiaomi

The Chinese smartphone market is the largest in the world and Chinese OEM Xiaomi has had a large amount of success dominating its home market en route to a global rollout. However, Xiaomi isn’t the largest Chinese OEM and according to new data from Canalys, Xiaomi has lost its top spot to Chinese icon Huawei.

[related_videos title=”HUAWEI in video:” align=”left” type=”custom” videos=”648417,645883,644809,643970,637475,617012″]In the quarter ending September 30, HUAWEI’s smartphone shipments rose 81 percent year-on-year and, coupled with declining shipments for Xiaomi in the same period, means HUAWEI has taken the top spot in China for the first time in its history. Canalys didn’t reveal exact shipment figures (but promised to do so in a detailed report at the end of this month) but a slowdown in China could mean a difficult future for Xiaomi, who predominantly relies on domestic sales for growth.

The secret of Xiaomi’s success has been offering affordable yet premium smartphones and the new Xiaomi Mi 4c offers mid-range specs at the super low price of just $235. However, HUAWEI has also launched a range of affordable handsets and in the HONOR 7, the company has a handset that retails at a similar price and can challenge the best of the mid-range devices.

Xiaomi has been replaced at the top of the Chinese market before but has bounced back and it remains to be seen whether the company will regain its top spot during the next quarter. Of course, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear more on this story – do you think that Xiaomi can retake its crown? Let us know your views in the comments below.