Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung as the smartphone market leader in China, which is the biggest market for mobile phones in the whole world.
The development was revealed in a report that was published by technology research company Canalys, which showcased the impressive growth of what was once a relatively unknown name in the mobile phone industry.
Xiaomi's huge increase in sales in China allowed the company to jump into fifth place among the biggest global smartphone manufacturers.
According to the report by Canalys, Xiaomi sold 15 million smartphones in the second quarter in China, which is a significant increase of 240 percent compared to the 4.4 million smartphones sold in the corresponding period last year. Xiaomi's sales topped Samsung's second quarter sales in China of 13.2 million, which is a decrease from the 15.5 million smartphones sold by the company in the second quarter of last year.
With Xiaomi's growth, the company has taken 14 percent of the market share of smartphones in China.
As per Canalys analyst Chris Jones, Xiaomi's growth can be attributed to the company's unique approach in its sales and marketing strategies, which differentiated the company from the other mobile phone makers in China that were primarily focused on competing on price points.
Xiaomi offers the Miui, which is a highly customized version of the Android operating system that gets an update every Friday according to the feedback received by the company online.
Xiaomi also sells its products for almost the same amount as purchasing and assembling its components. However, the company sells the products for up to one and a half years, which gives time for the prices of the components to fall for Xiaomi to actually make profits for selling them. To add revenue, Xiaomi has a focus on selling Android apps, themes and online services.
The company also organizes festivals to show its appreciation for fans of the Mi, which is the company's flagship smartphone.
"They've really changed the look of the Chinese market," said Jones. "These guys did something different."
Xiaomi has recently launched the Mi 4 smartphone in an event in Beijing, which had Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun constantly comparing the smartphone to Apple's iPhone.
Lei, who has received the nickname as the Steve Jobs of China, showed off the features of the Mi 4, compared its manufacturing process and design to the iPhone, and emphasized the huge difference in price between the two smartphones.
The Mi 4 uses a 5-inch 1080p LCD screen, a 3GB RAM, 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 chipset, an 8MP front camera and a 13MP rear camera, a 3,080 mAh battery, and runs on Android 4.4.2 with the Miui skin.
