Xiaomi no longer the smartphone market leader in China

Xiaomi is one of the companies that are aiming to compete against Apple. But a new report suggests that the company has just started losing its sheen and is no longer the smartphone market leader in China.

The report, revealed by research firm Canalys, claims that Huawei for the first time surpassed Xiaomi's shipments and came to first place with 81% year-over-year shipment growth. With Huawei's swift growth in the smartphone market and fewer demand of Mi series smartphones, Xiaomi reportedly started facing hurdles to grow in the market.

Although the firm is yet to reveal details about the total smartphone shipments in the country that may include Samsung and Apple in addition to the two homegrown Chinese players, it shows shrank year-over-year shipments of Xiaomi devices. "Huawei's ascent to China's smart phone throne is a remarkable feat, especially in the context of an increasingly cutthroat and maturing Chinese smart phone market," Jessie Ding, a Research Analyst based in Canalys' Shanghai office, said in a press statement.

"On the other hand, Xiaomi, with its worldwide target of 80 million smart phone shipments for 2015, is under tremendous pressure to keep growing as an international player as it is slowing down in its key home market."

Beijing-based Xiaomi sold over 61 million smartphone units last year and is officially in plans to touch the mark of 100 million this year. The four-year-old company already has its strong presence in the Chinese market, but it is yet to gain success from the global markets, especially from some of the developed ones such as the US and UK among others. Also, the company had last year entered India and some other neighbouring regions across the Asian continent to expand its business.

Xiaomi recently launched the anticipated Redmi Note 2 and Mi 4c that both are not yet launched anywhere outside China. This suggests that the company's shipments record could be improved with the due launches. However, Huawei already started using its Honor brand to bring some comparable offerings to the smartphone market.