The company’s IoT business also showed promising signs of recovery following a slowdown due to the pandemic.

But some analysts claim Xiaomi lost its lead in India to Samsung.

Xiaomi will become Dongyi Risheng’s second major shareholder.

The move comes months after Alibaba announced a USD 1.5 billion investment plan to strengthen the AI and Internet-of-Things (AIoT) ecosystem around its smart speaker Tmall Genie.

Baidu denied reports that it is spinning off the unit and declined to comment on a potential listing of Xiaodu.

Samsung led the premium smartphone segment with a 37% market share in the first half of 2020.

As of tomorrow the Chinese champion will be cut off from its suppliers.

Samsung’s India market share rose by 10 percentage points to 26%, while Xiaomi slid 1 percentage point to 29% in Q2.