New quarterly estimates from March 2015 through June 2015 show that Xiaomi has the top spot at 15.9 percent of the Chinese market share, with Huawei nipping at its heels at 15.7 percent.
Apple, which had been number one for the past two quarters, has fallen to number three. Samsung and Vivo slide in at four and five, respectively. CNET notes that Canalys didn't offer Apple's current market share when announcing the new quarterly figures. A different analyst, Counterpoint Research, forecast market share numbers of 15.8 percent for Xiaomi, 15.4 percent for Huawei, and 12.2 percent for Apple.
"Competition among major brands has never been so intense," Jingwen Wang, a Canalys analyst, said in a statement. "Huawei recorded the highest smartphone shipments in its history without compromising its product margin or profitability. Apple and Samsung have both increased their sales activities in the China market, expanding rapidly in channel coverage through flagship stores and small to medium size phone retailers respectively."
Xiaomi has rapidly expanded in other Asian countries, and the company now has its sights set on Russia, Brazil, the Middle East, and more Latin American countries. It has not yet debuted in the United States, but Xiaomi held its first media event in San Francisco in February 2015.
That same month, Ars concluded that the Mi Note, the company’s phablet, "has again blown us away with its ability to make a better product for less money." We were similarly impressed with the Mi 4 smartphone in June.
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