Canalays has released its Q2 global market report which shows that Xiaomi has taken second place with its 17% share and an 83% YoY growth. A first for the brand.
The firm expressed that Xiaomi is now transforming its business model from challenger or incumbent, with initiatives such as channel partner consolidation and more careful management in the open market. They also mentioned that a new goal for the brand is to displace Samsung to take the top spot.
Lei Jun, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, emphasized that this is a key milestone. After five years of undergoing self-improvement under extremely difficult conditions, Xiaomi’s capabilities in terms of products have been enhanced significantly, paving the way for the premium market segment and increasing its market share.
In Q4 of 2020, Xiaomi’s global shipments reached 43.4 million units with 31.5% YoY growth, surpassing Apple for the first time and returning to the third spot. In Q1 2021, Apple rose to No. 2 with 15% market share, followed closely by Xiaomi with 14%.
Since the launch of the Mi 10 series, Xiaomi has been innovating in critical areas such as imaging, display, charging, smart manufacturing, and more. The brand has been invested in achieving breakthrough in the premium market with cutting-edge technology to consumers, and helping to shape the direction of the industry.
Xiaomi has been the first to bring numerous industry-leading technologies to the market.
- For imaging, the company introduced the 108MP camera, the GN2 camera sensor, and an innovative liquid lens.
- In display, it’s been pioneering technology research of the third-generation under-display camera.
- Xiaomi has also led in battery charging with 200W wired and 120W wireless fast-charging.
- It was also the first to introduce graphene-based lithium-ion batteries as well as second generation silicon oxygen batteries.
- Xiaomi is also a pioneer in mobile phone ceramics, leading the trend of industry exploration.
The first phase of Xiaomi’s smart factory has also started operation with production lines that are automated and are capable of manufacturing a million high-end smartphones per year. It’s also a facility that allows Xiaomi to research new materials and technologies as well as advanced manufacturing production processes.
Xiaomi has invested nearly RMB10 billion in research and development in 2020. This year, the number is expected to increase by 30% to 40%. At the beginning of 2021, the company announced the biggest engineer recruitment drive in its history: 5,000 engineers, in a single year, which will occupy 20% of total employees. It has also launched multiple talent incentive initiatives such as a one million US dollars award project for technology talents, young engineers incentive plan, etc. Nearly 700 young engineers of Xiaomi were granted 16 million shares, following the incentive plan just in the month of July.
Xiaomi’s global expansion as well as the transformation in new retail channels have been an important driving force in helping the company become the second largest smartphone manufacturer. According to Canalys, Xiaomi is now expanding fast in overseas markets, reaching over 300% YoY growth in Latin America, over 150% YoY growth in Africa, and over 50% YoY growth in Western Europe. According to Xiaomi’s Q1 2021 results announcement, its smartphones have entered 100 markets worldwide, ranked no. 1 in terms of smartphone market share across 12 markets, ranked no. 2 in Europe, and No. 1 in India.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
