Huawei surpasses Xiaomi to become largest mobile vendor in China

According to analysis agency Canalys, Huawei made an enormous bounce within the third quarter of 2015, overtaking rival Xiaomi to turn into the No. 1 smartphone vendor in China, a primary for the corporate. Huawei can also draw on its brand recognition and reputation, as it’s one of the biggest suppliers of networking gear for telecommunications carriers in the world.

Huawei was crowned as the China’s leading smartphone manufacturer, snatching the title from Xiaomi.

Huawei registered 81 percent year-on-year shipment growth during the past three months, extending its growth momentum in the previous quarter, while Xiaomi’s shipments shrank from the same period last year, as the Chinese star firm has been struggling to sustain its high growth, according research firm Canalys, which didn’t give out a specific number. As Xiaomi still relies mostly on the domestic market for growth, a slowdown in China could cast doubts on its road ahead, analysts say. It is also not known exactly how many smartphones Huawei or Xiaomi have sold in the third quarter.

Come to think about it, this change should not strike as a major surprise, since Huawei is really taking its game to the next level, with a series of very appealing devices including, an Android smartwatch, a smartphone with an Apple-like 3D Touch feature and, of course, the popular top tier Nexus 6P, designed for Google by Huawei.

Huawei has won praise for a few new smartphones this year, including the P8 and the Mate S.

Xiaomi has often drawn comparisons to Apple, but not always in a good way.

In a closely fought competitive smartphone market, Huawei has managed to surpass Xiaomi to lead the Chinese smartphone market. In September it said it was confident it would still reach that goal, after selling slightly less than 35 million handsets in the first half.