It's time for Apple to start losing sleep over another Chinese company as Xiaomi steals second spot

Xiaomi overtook Apple as the second-largest seller of smartphones in August, per Counterpoint Research. The last time Xiaomi was able to climb this high was back in August 2021.

Xiaomi was one of the high achievers during the first half of the year, achieving a 22 percent year-on-year growth in sales. And while its month-on-month sales were flat in August, it managed to outdo Apple due to the seasonal decline in iPhone sales.

August is generally a slow month for Apple, as most of its customer base holds off on buying a new phone in aniticipation of a new September release.

And while Xiaomi didn't witness a month-on-increase in sales in August, it still managed to outperform the market, offsetting season declines in key markets with promotion-driven growth in Latin America.

A weak 2022 and 2023 pushed Xiaomi to rethink its product and sales strategy and its efforts are now paying off. One of the things that seems to have helped is only having "one hero model per price band," according to Counterpoint's Research Director Tarun Pathak.

While the company's affordable and mid-range phones continue to do well, with the economic rebound staged by its key markets boosting sales of entry-level phones, it's also making a mark in the premium segment with new foldable and ultra phones.

Now that the iPhone 16 has been announced, Apple is likely to reclaim the second spot or even catapult to the number one position in the coming months.

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Even though Xiaomi's victory may be short-lived, the fact that the last time it was able to pull of something like this was three years ago speaks volumes about Apple's stagnating sales. With market forecasts showing the new phones will do slightly worse than the iPhone 15, perhaps its time for Apple for stop peddling incremental changes as groundbreaking upgrades.