A new report has claimed that Samsung has lost its spot as the world's biggest smartphone (opens in new tab) manufacturer to Chinese challenger Xiaomi (opens in new tab).
The latest figures from Counterpoint Research (opens in new tab) believe Xiaomi has toppled Samsung for number one spot worldwide following an incredible period of growth over the past few months.
The firm's research found Xiaomi’s sales grew 26% in June 2021 compared to the previous month, catapulting it past Apple and Samsung (opens in new tab) for the number one spot. The growth gave Xiaomi 17.1% of the global smartphone market, overtaking Samsung on 15.7%.
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Xiaomi top spot
The news follows a great few months for Xiaomi, with multiple industry observers highlighting the company's growth and success in 2021 so far.
According to a recent report from analyst firm Strategy Analytics, the company also overtook Samsung to become the largest smartphone firm in the EMEA (opens in new tab) region in Q2 2021 following a massive 67.1% increase in shipments compared to the previous year.
A separate report from Omdia also recently claimed Xiaomi was also now the second-largest smartphone vendor globally (opens in new tab) (behind Samsung) following a surge of shipments in 2021.
Its lead could only continue to grow over the next few months, as Xiaomi is currently gearing up for the launch of its new flagship smartphone lineup (opens in new tab) and other products including the Mi Pad 5 series on August 10.
Counterpoint Research noted that the decline of fellow Chinese firms Huawei and Honor had created a vacuum for Xiaomi to exploit, with the company seeing big gains in its native country.
Samsung's output was not helped by a wave of Covid-19 cases across its key production plants in Vietnam, which disrupted supply and could have a longer-lasting effect for the company.
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