China – Huawei Technology Co. Ltd., beats Xiaomi Corp., and becomes the top smartphones seller in China for the first time during the last quarter, according to a survey made from the research firm Canalys.
Huawei made its way to first place with 81 percent year-on-year shipment growth, enhancing its performance in the previous quarter. On the other hand, Xiaomi’s hasn’t been able to sustain its high growth, causing shipments shrank as the years pass.
Xiaomi claimed to have sold 61 million smartphones in China in the past year, but experts assure that the company is having troubles to reach the 80 million target in 2015, even though they reduced it from the original 100 million goal, according to Canalys.
As part of their marketing strategy, the company expanded to Latin America this summer, feeling the pressure of competing at an international scale, although they are focused in the idea that China is still a big market, Xiaomi spokesman Tony Wei said according to The Wall Street Journal.
“The gap between Xiaomi and Huawei’s figures — according to Canalys’ research — is not huge. So a change in leadership is more a testament to Huawei’s progress than any major crisis at Xiaomi,” experts from TechCrunch said.
Huawei, one of the largest suppliers of gear used in telecommunications carriers, has been working to expand their smartphone business. Although they’ve reached international markets in Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, most of their sales are performed in China. Experts believe that the price changes happening in the Chinese market are favoring Huawei’s strategies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The research firm made the announcement before releasing the full data of Chinese smartphone sales, meaning that it remains unknown the place in the ranking for companies like Apple or Samsung.
Nevertheless, experts warn about the dangers of releasing this type of data without providing the analysis behind it —seeking media coverage by making a “big reveal”. Canalys announced that the full report will be released and the end of October.
Source: Canalys