China’s Xiaomi has surpassed Apple for the first time to become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker by shipments in the July-September quarter, edging the US tech company out of the global top three for the first time in 10 years, three key market data providers said.
The world’s top three smartphone companies are now all from Asia, according to Canalys, IDC and Counterpoint Research. The latest statistics come as Apple on Thursday posted a 29 per cent year-on-year drop in revenue in the Chinese market for the three months to September.
Xiaomi had a 46 per cent jump in shipments from a year ago for the three months to September, shipping 46.2m handsets, Counterpoint said. Apple logged a 7 per cent drop in shipments year over year, selling 41.7m iPhones in the July-September quarter.
Canalys said Apple had a 1 per cent decline in shipments, while Xiaomi’s surged 45 per cent year over year for the same period. IDC said Apple’s shipments dropped more than 10 per cent while Xiaomi’s grew 42 per cent.