Xiaomi's Battle Against Apple & Samsung

While the mobile operating system market has long become a duopoly of iOS and Android, the demand for a greater variety in price points and phone specs has enabled multiple manufacturers to secure a piece of the smartphone market pie. As our chart shows, Samsung remained on top in the third quarter of 2021, with its competitors Apple and Xiaomi battling it out on the lower steps of the podium.

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer has been hit the hardest by the supply chain disruptions and chip shortages, losing 3.5 percent of the global market share compared to Q2 2021. This also reflects in its financial results published today. While the revenue from the IoT and Internet services segments grew, Xiaomi only generated $7.5 million with its smartphone division, a decline of 19 percent. With Apple releasing its new line of iPhones right at the end of its third quarter on September 24, the U.S. tech giant might be able to increase its current lead of 1.8 percent even further over the coming months. Xiaomi's upcoming flagship model 12 Ultra, on the other hand, probably won't see the light until next year, although several leaks and reports by data miners have already allegedly confirmed a total of four 50 megapixel cameras and the usage of the newest Qualcomm CPU Snapdragon 898.

As of now, the top 5 of smartphone manufacturers by market share include four Asian companies, South Korea's Samsung and China's Oppo, the People's Republic leading smartphone brand that's also responsible for OnePlus phones, Vivo and Xiaomi. Overall, 1.4 billion smartphones were sold in 2020, amounting to an estimated revenue of $450 billion according to the Statista Technology Market Outlook.