Huawei surpasses Xiaomi as top Chinese smartphone company: Report

In a closely fought competitive smartphone market, Huawei has managed to surpass Xiaomi to lead the Chinese smartphone market. According to independent analyst company Canalys, as on Q2 2015, Huawei is China’s top smartphone vendor, while Xiaomi has fallen to the second place. The leap by Huawei has brought it to the leading position for the first time in China’s highly competitive smartphone market. This is backed by an 81 percent year-on-year device shipment growth. During the same time, Xiaomi witness a reduction in year-on-year shipments, according to Canalys’ estimates. According to a report by Canalys, ‘Huawei’s ascent to China’s smart phone throne is a remarkable feat, especially in the context of an increasingly cutthroat and maturing Chinese smart phone market,’ said Jessie Ding, a Research Analyst based in Canalys’ Shanghai office. She added, ‘On the other hand, Xiaomi, with its worldwide target of 80 million smart phone shipments for 2015, is under tremendous pressure to keep growing as an international player as it is slowing down in its key home market.’ In a report by TechCrunch, a Xiaomi spokesperson blamed the sluggish numbers to the timing of the report. It added that since the Redmi Note 2 was released in mid August,  and the Mi 4c was released in late September, Xiaomi’s production line went through a transition period in Q3 2015. As a result, Xiaomi had to ramp up supply to meet demand. The recent report will come at a time when Huawei is gearing up to ship the new Nexus 6P. In addition, Xiaomi would work towards bridging the gap and regaining the lead position in China, and grow across other markets that it operates in.