Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has topped the Chinese smartphone sales charts for the first time ever, according to a report by Canalys, a research firm.
The report suggests that Huawei has experienced a massive 81 percent surge in sales over the past quarter, pushing the company past Xiaomi, which was the previous title-holder for the top spot in Chinese smartphone sales.
The announcement was made before the publishing of the full report, so we have yet to see where companies like Apple and Samsung fall on the charts, however, it's likely they're not too far behind. It is also not known exactly how many smartphones Huawei or Xiaomi have sold in the third quarter. It seems as though Canalys came to the conclusion by comparing sales-in figures for Huawei, which are consumer and channel sales, to sales-out figures for Xiaomi, which are direct to consumer sales. This is fair because it is how the two companies sell their devices, however, it's still an important thing to consider.
Xiaomi seems to be having a bit of a rough time of late. The company said that it sold 61 million smartphones in 2014, however, it's having difficulty in reaching its goal of 80 million this year. That 80 million figure is down from its original goal of 100 million smartphone sales for 2015. Its struggles are in spite of the fact that the company expanded into Latin America this year. Of course, it could also be down to timing.
"We just released Redmi Note 2 in mid-August and Mi 4c in late September, which means our product lineup went through a transition period in Q3 2015, and we had to ramp up supply gradually to meet demand," said a spokesperson for Xiaomi in a statement to TechCrunch.
It's also important to note that it is unlikely the difference between Huawei and Xiaomi is a big one, and it's probably more a testament to the growth that Huawei is experiencing rather than any issues at Xiaomi.
Via: TechCrunch
