Chinese tech company Xiaomi shipped 6 million smartphones in the world in February, down by 32% year-on-year (YoY), but enough to surpass Huawei as the third largest vendor worldwide in the month, Chinese media outlet ITHome reported on Thursday, citing data from market research agency Strategy Analytics.
This is the first time for Xiaomi to surpass Huawei at international scale in two years. Samsung maintained its first position, followed by Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo.
Strategy Analytics attributed Xiaomi’s change in ranking to its focus on online sales channels, which were less affected by the novel coronavirus than brick-and-mortar stores.
The lack of Google services on new Huawei devices due to a US ban might also be among the factors explaining Huawei’s drop. The firm’s smartphone shipments went down 69% YoY, with 5.5 million devices delivered in the month.
Samsung shipped 18.2 million units, down by 13% YoY, due to disruption in supply chain and logistics due to the COVID-19, says the report.
Apple shipped 10.2 million units, down by 27% YoY, while Oppo delivered 4 million devices, down 49% from a year ago.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.