...And almost certainly can't pronounce. Its name is Xiaomi.
It is only four years old and has just, according
to market analyst Canalys, soared to the top of China's smartphone market,
which in Q2 of 214 accounted for 37 percent of global smartphones shipments,
some 108.5 million units according to Canalys.
"In little over a year, Xiaomi has risen from being a
niche player to become the leading smart phone vendor in the world’s largest
market, overtaking Samsung in volume terms in Q2," Canalys said.
"Xiaomi took a 14 percent share in China, on the back
of 240 percent year-on-year growth. With Lenovo, Yulong, Huawei, BBK, ZTE, OPPO
and K-Touch, the eight Chinese vendors in the top 10 together accounted for a
total of 70.7 million units and a 65 percent market share."
Ninety seven percent of Xiaomi's sales were in Mainland
China, but that's unlikely to be the case for very long. According to Canalys
Xiaomi is now looking
to expand into other markets, with Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and
Turkey in its sights for the second half of the year.
Canalys
analyst Jessica Kwee says Xiaomi faces considerable challenges in trying to
crack the global market, and she has some advice for the company: "Xiaomi
needs to build its international brand, and will need to localise its services
offering with MIUI [its version of Android] for the different markets into
which it expands, else its differentiation, value proposition and
service-oriented revenue streams will be eroded. And it must tailor its
marketing and largely online sales channels accordingly."
She
concludes: "Xiaomi does have the potential to be a disruptive force beyond
China and international vendors should take note." I'd say that is a very
significant understatement.
Xiaomi's
MIUI android-based OS is already gathering a global following with, 26 global 'fan sites' including one for Australia. You can download and
install the MIUI OS on numerous Android phones. There was also at one time a Xiaomi store in Australia importing
selling the company's products, but not connected with Xiaomi. However it has
closed down.
Rival
forecaster IDC seems to see the threat to other smartphone vendors as being far
greater than Canalys. It has just released its Worldwide
Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker
for Q2 of 2014. The top five vendors from one to five were Samsung,
Apple, Huawei, Lenovo and LG. But program director Ryan Reith doesn't expect
that ranking to remain. "Right
now we have more than a dozen vendors that are capable of landing in the top
five next quarter," he says. "A handful of these companies are
currently operating in a single country, but no one should mistake that for
complacency – they all recognise the opportunity that lies outside their home
turf."
And
to ram home that message, senior research manager, Melissa Chau, adds: "As the death
of the feature phone approaches more rapidly than before, it is the Chinese
vendors that are ready to usher emerging market consumers into smartphones. The
offer of smartphones at a much better value than the top global players but
with a stronger build quality and larger scale than local competitors gives
these vendors a precarious competitive advantage."
More
to the point, Canalys and IDC are at odds on the global smartphone vendor
rankings. According to Canalys Xiaomi had 14 percent of a total of 108.5
million smartphone shipments in China in Q2, which works out to be 15.75
million units. According to IDC. Number three global vendor Huawei shipped 20.3
million units in Q2; number four vendor Lenovo 15.8 million and number five
vendor LG 14.5 million. So, depending on whose figures are correct Xiaomi could
already be the number four global smartphone vendor.
I'd
say all those vendors should do more than take note of Xiaomi. They should be
very afraid.
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