Q1 2014 : Xiaomi Becomes The Third Largest Smartphone Brand in China
Latest research from our Market Monitor service highlighted, Xiaomi climbing to become sixth largest smartphone brand and eight largest handset brand during Q1 2014.
- This was possible due to impressive performance by the Chinese vendor in its home market, thanks to the strong holiday season performance especially in January & February.
- As a result, Xiaomi raced to become the third largest smartphone brand in China in terms of shipment volumes for the march ending quarter for the first time ever. Xiaomi surpassed Apple, Coolpad and Huawei.
- During the quarter, Xiaomi also expanded outside of mainland China into market such as Singapore where it launched its portfolio across all the major three operators e.g. StarHub offered Redmi at $0 down with postpaid plan
- Xiaomi has grown by leaps and bounds over last 24 months with highly effective guerrilla marketing, innovative sales channels from online to mobile (e.g. WeChat) and growing retail footprint in China, HK and Taiwan
- Xiaomi will look forward to replicate the same performance in international markets which it plans to expand into benefiting from growing mindshare, marketshare, portfolioshare and top-line
- Xiaomi with its recent launch of Xiaomi RedMi Note filled an important portfolio gap alongside mid-tier RedMi and flagship Mi3
- Q2 2014 will be an important quarter for Xiaomi if it can maintain the momentum in its home market as its shift focus towards international expansion
- China market is on the brink of price-war as OEMs will race to bring both cheapest TD-SCDMA and cheaper LTE phones to the market starting this June
Author
Neil Shah
Neil is a sought-after frequently-quoted Industry Analyst with a wide spectrum of rich multifunctional experience. He is a knowledgeable, adept, and accomplished strategist. In the last 18 years he has offered expert strategic advice that has been highly regarded across different industries especially in telecom. Prior to Counterpoint, Neil worked at Strategy Analytics as a Senior Analyst (Telecom). Neil also had an opportunity to work with Philips Electronics in multiple roles. He is also an IEEE Certified Wireless Professional with a Master of Science (Telecommunications & Business) from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA.
