Samsung used to be China’s biggest seller of smartphones, but Chinese upstart Xiaomi has usurped Samsung’s top sales spot by outselling the Koreans.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, pronounced “She-ow-me”, has outsold Samsung for the first time in China, according to a new report.
WSJ’s report says Xiaomi’s Q2 2014 smartphone marketshare in China reached 14pc, a jump from 10.7pc marketshare in Q1 2014, which itself was an impressive doubling from Q1 2013 figures of 5pc marketshare.
This beat Samsung into second place, with Q2 2014 marketshare of 12pc, a number it shared with Lenovo and another Chinese smartphone maker you’ve likely never heard of, Yulong – no “love Yulong time” jokes, please.
This compares with Samsung Q1 2014 marketshare figures of 18.3pc and Lenovo’s 11pc, which shows how far Samsung’s Chinese marketshare has fallen in so short a time.
Xiaomi has done what many Android makers do, which is to create smartphones in different sizes and price points, but as Xiaomi is in China, where IP laws don’t seem to carry the same weight as in the west, it has been super bold in copying Apple.
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| The Xiaomi Mi4 – with chamfered edges and an iPhone 5S look but running Android…
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From chamfered edges on iPhone clones through to iPad mini clones in a range of colours identical to the iPhone 5C, to on-stage presentations in jeans and shirt with the words “one more thing.” projected onto the stage, through to a website that is clearly ripped off from Apple’s own, Xiaomi is a carbon copy cloner of the highest order achieving great success in China.
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| A Xiaomi iPad mini clone in colours suspiciously identical to the iPhone 5C.
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Part of the reason for Xiaomi’s success is quality product at low prices, with prices around the $100-$200 mark as opposed to the $500+ prices of Samsung, Apple and other premium brands.
But Xiaomi’s success hasn’t come without scandals, the most recent of which is the discovery that the MiUI – Xiaomi’s Android user interface, which is similar to Samsung’s TouchWiz or HTC’s Sense – is allegedly sending data back to a Chinese server over Wi-Fi.
Naturally, Xiaomi
staunchly denies this is happening, but until proven otherwise, some of Xiaomi’s potential customers have been spooked by the revelations.
Although Xiaomi has been little known in the west by most everyday consumers, it certainly has been making waves.
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| Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen. Like maybe Apple’s lawyers not deciding to sue Xiaomi if it ever steps foot in the US.
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The company poached former Google VP of Android, Hugo Barra, to become Xiaomi’s “VP of International” last year.
Mr Barra has since been under a barrage of accusations that Xiaomi copies Apple and others slavishly, and only chooses to sell its smartphones in countries with weak IP laws, which is supposedly why it isn’t yet on sale in the US where Apple and others might sue Xiaomi’s pants off.
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| One more thing… Xiaomi does not copy Apple at anything. At all. That’s not a pair of blue jeans and turtleneck top either, these are not the droids you’re looking for…
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But such accusations are water off a duplicating duck’s back, with Mr Barra famously complaining last month that Xiaomi was being unfairly accused of copying Apple, stating that designers could come to the same design conclusions and that Apple was an “inspiration”.
Needless to say, Mr Barra’s suggestions that XiaoMi wasn’t copying anyone haven’t been exactly convincing.
However, with Xiaomi safely out of reach of the US court system, and flushed with stellar Q2 sales success, we can only imagine Xiaomi’s owners are excitedly screaming “Show Me The Money!”
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| Xiaomi smartphones in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes. Where have we heard those screen sizes iBefore? iCan’t remember, can you? |
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