The smartphone industry is experiencing a major shakeup in the current destabilised world. Last week, we reported that Xiaomi has officially overtaken Apple as the number 2 smartphone maker in the world. New data suggests that it’s gunning for that number one spot already. Samsung better sleep with one eye open…

Xiaomi the sneak

According to the same research firm that confirmed its silver medal, Canalys, the Chinese brand is actually much closer to grabbing the number one spot than previously thought.

The new report shows Samsung at number one with a total of 58 million devices shipped and an 18% market share (down from the 19% reported previously). Right below it, Xiaomi stands with 52.8 million units shipped and a 17% market share.

As it stands, Xiaomi is only 1% behind Samsung when it comes to overall market share, which means it just has to ship a few thousand more devices to make up for it. We know that the Chinese smartphone company recently established a presence in South Africa, and will start really focusing on our market.

South Africans don’t really know Xiaomi that well — likely because it was generally brought in by third-party distributors. Now that it has an official presence here, people will see far more devices available via mobile networks and in stores. This month, it launched the Redmi Note 10 series in the country.

Source: Android Authority