Xiaomi Technology Co. is growing at an amazingly fast pace and a research group Canalys has claimed in a report that the manufacturer has beaten Samsung Electronics Company Ltd (KRX:005930) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) acquiring the top rank among the smartphone vendors in China. The Beijing based smartphone manufacturer has earned the reputation of being called the ‘Chinese version of Apple.’
RedMi range does wonders for Xiaomi
Xiaomi’s RedMi range of smartphones has been successful in China due to the availability of maximum possible features at low price. The phone has been sold in huge quantities and has helped in bringing about a YoY increase of 240% in the second-quarter sales in China. With this, the company has acquired a massive 14% share in the largest smartphone market of the world, informed Canalys, in a research report released on Monday.
Xiaomi is a popular name in China, which boasts of a massive fan base and outstanding marketing skills. The phones are very much similar to those from Apple, but are priced way less at around $130.
“We sell all our products online and our gross profit rate is very low. Our price is one third of Apple’s,” Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said last year. “We make our profits through content and services.”
Apple gets 4G benefit
Samsung has been the leader in the smartphone market since long, but now has slide down to the second position in China. This is primarily due to the shifting demand of consumers towards 4G enabled handsets. China Mobile, largest mobile carrier in China has been pushing 4G due to which people have developed a significant preference towards 4G enabled handsets.
Samsung has realized that it needs to make it capable of meeting the shifting demand of buyers towards 4G enabled handsets. For this purpose, it is realigning its channel inventory, which would probably show improvement in the third-quarter. Canalys believes that even after this strategic move it will still be difficult for Samsung to gain back the leadership status it once enjoyed in the smartphone market of China.
While Samsung has a challenge to face because of the aggressive 4G strategy by ‘China Mobile’, Apple has got the benefit of this 4G push. A remarkable YoY growth of 58% has been registered by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the second-quarter of 2014. Report says, “the growth has been helped by the iPhone’s position as one of few high-end device options available to consumers looking to use 4G services from China Mobile”.
