Xiaomi is once again at the top of the Chinese smartphone market, knocking out fierce competition from the likes of honor, Huawei and LeEco for the number one spot in April. While the figures only represent one month of sales, this is the first time a Chinese smartphone company has captured 26% of the domestic market, demonstrating just how successful Chinese brands are becoming against the largest brands in the world.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun posted the information on Weibo, based on local research firm Sino’s monthly market analysis report. The data shows honor in second place with 15.7% of the market (with its parent company Huawei in fifth spot with just 8%), followed by LeEco in third with 10.5% and Apple in fourth spot with 8.2%.
Looking at the data, Xiaomi sold as many phones as its two closest competitors (honor and LeEco) combined and three times as many phones as Apple. While Xiaomi’s profit margin is nothing like Apple’s, 26% of the smartphone market is nothing to be sneezed at. Meanwhile, Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone company, is amongst the least popular handset makers in China, with just 3.2% of the market.
China represents the world’s largest smartphone market with vast (relatively) untapped potential for Western brands. The push of Chinese brands into the Western market has been gaining a lot of steam lately, especially with regards to Huawei, but the traffic in the opposite direction has been relatively minimal. Other than Apple, no Western smartphone maker has managed to successfully penetrate the Chinese market.