Xiaomi and Huawei leave Apple in the Chinese Dust

In fact, one in three smart phones shipped in China in the second quarter of 2015, have been eiter Huawei or Xiaomi; which goes to show their current market dominance. “Xiaomi is under enormous pressure to maintain its top position in the quarters to come”, said Jingwen Wang, Analyst at Canalys. Apple then continued its dominant position in the first quarter of 2015, but demand has decreased for Q2.

“Huawei recorded the highest number of smartphone shipments in its history, without compromising its product margin or profitability”, Wang said.

US technology giant Apple had taken the top spot in the Canalys rankings for the first three months of this year, and its third-place showing came despite the launch of its larger-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last year.

Couterpoint research substantiated these findings, while giving Xiaomi a slightly better lead of 0.4 per cent over Huawei.

Xiaomi moved ahead of Lenovo to become the world’s fourth-largest smartphone supplier. Samsung, once the No. 1 vendor of smartphones in China, has seen its piece of the pie crumble.

Xiaomi’s marketing strategy involved the use of social media.

China’s overall mobile market declined 2 percent from a year ago and 4 percent sequentially, dragged by a muted economic environment, smartphone market saturation and a lack of product related catalysts, according to Counterpoint’s analysis.

Xiaomi has grown quickly by selling feature-packed Android phones at low cost. This was despite the Cupertino, California based company reporting strong growth in its most recent earnings report. That said, Huawei’s growth and increased competition from Samsung are of concern in the longer term.

“We would be foolish to change our plans”. The brand has also surpassed Huawei, another smartphone manufacturer. It is followed by Huawei, Apple, SAMSUNG ELECT LTD (F) (OTCMKTS:SSNLF), and Vivo.

China is becoming increasingly important to Apple as the country recently passed the U.S.as the biggest consumer of iPhones. The company’s higher-end phones are taking off, and not only gobbling up market share, but generating more profit.