Samsung is no longer China's leading smartphone vendor, Xiaomi took its place

Last week, we told you that Xiaomi had surpassed LG to become the world’s fifth largest smartphone maker in the second quarter of this year (April - June). Reportedly, the company shipped 15.1 million handsets during Q2 2014, almost four times more than it did in Q2 2013. Most of these devices were shipped in China, and now we’re seeing that this helped Xiaomi dethrone Samsung to become the No. 1 smartphone vendor in the country.

According to Canalys, Xiaomi shipped 14.99 million smartphones in China last quarter, while Samsung shipped 13.22 million - thus falling to the second place. Although Apple is selling a lot if iPhones in China, it’s now included in the “others” category, seemingly not making it to top 5. Speaking of it, the top also includes Lenovo, Yulong and Huawei - all being Chinese companies.

Xiaomi recently started selling its smartphones in more markets, including India, while also launching a new flagship: the Mi4 (pictured above, currently available only in China). The company’s key to success is selling products at low prices. Even its high-end smartphones are affordable - for example, the Mi 4 costs as low as $320 in China, while offering features like a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 5-inch 1080p display, and a “premium” metal construction.

It will be interesting to see how much Xiaomi can still grow. Can it become one of the world’s top three smartphone makers, alongside Samsung and Apple? Right now, its rapid ascension suggests that it can. But we’ll see what happens.