According to data released by market research firm Counterpoint Research on August 5, Xiaomi was the best-selling smartphone brand globally in June. Xiaomi phone sales increased 26% month-on-month, helping the company China accounts for 17.1% of the global smartphone market share.
However, Xiaomi is one of the smartphone brands that are not present in the US, the world's third-largest market. According to SCMP, US-China political tensions and competition from other firms are barriers that make it difficult for Xiaomi to dethrone Samsung to become the world's largest smartphone company.
Lei Jun, founder, and CEO of Xiaomi, announced the ambitious plan on August 10 when the company launched new products including Mi Mix 4, a phone with a selfie camera hidden under the screen.
Xiaomi's goal, like Huawei's a few years ago, is to find a way to become the biggest phone brand in the world. However, Huawei faces sanctions from the US, preventing it from buying chips and software technologies, allowing many Chinese phone brands to surpass.
“If Xiaomi wants to aim for a higher position in the future, it must continue to promote its products on a global scale. In addition, Xiaomi also needs to focus on introducing high-end smartphones in foreign markets," said Wang Xi, research director at IDC China.
This is the strategy that has helped Samsung to lead the market for so long. While it is best known for Galaxy phones in the premium segment, Samsung also ships devices at all price points around the world.
In April 2020, Samsung once lost its position as the world's leading smartphone supplier to Huawei. However, Samsung regained this position after having the campaign to promote and offer low- to mid-range phones in the Indian market.
Analysts share that Xiaomi can learn from Samsung to strengthen its position in the Chinese market. In addition, the company should also focus on exploiting many potential markets, not only in the US.
According to Canalys data, Samsung shipped 300 million smartphones in the past two years. Meanwhile, Xiaomi has produced 200 million smartphone units per year.
Nicole Peng, vice president in charge of mobile at Canalys, said Xiaomi needs to double the volume of production in the domestic market to continue to maintain its current position. In addition, the airline can also exploit the Middle East and Africa markets. She also added that Xiaomi faces many challenges in the US market when competing with Samsung and Apple.
Xiaomi is famous for its low-cost high-performance products, and it is also increasingly investing in the high-end segment, like the Mi 10 5G. The phone was released in 2020 for 3,999 yuan. Despite the complicated epidemic situation, Xiaomi has sold 5.77 million Mi 10 phones as of this month, double its target.
Since then, Xiaomi has invested more in campaigns to launch high-priced phones like Mi 11 Ultra for 5,999 yuan in the Chinese market.
“A new chapter for Xiaomi officially begins. The company will invest in the phone segment at all costs. However, we acknowledge the company has a long way to go, and Xiaomi's current priority is to strengthen its position as the world's second-largest phone maker," said Lei Jun.