Samsung is known to be the biggest phone vendor globally, but it is no longer the top seller in Europe. As a result, the company has lost its top spot as the largest smartphone vendor in the EMEA region. You might speculate that the title passed onto Apple, but that’s not true; Chinese giant Xiaomi now holds the position of being number one on the continent.
According to the latest analysis, Xiaomi shipped a record 12.7 million smartphone units in Europe during the second quarter, a massive 67.1% year-on-year increase giving it a market share of 25.3%. Samsung sales, meanwhile, fell to 7.0% year-on-year, but the company managed second place with 12.0m devices shipped for a 24% market share.
Post-COVID has seen an increase in overall smartphone shipments in Europe. Strategy Analytics’ researchers say that Apple has also shown reasonable growth. The iPhone maker was up 15.7 percent compared to 2021 due to iPhone 12.
Strategy Analytics pointed to strong sales in Russia, Ukraine, Spain and Italy as some of the reasons behind Xiaomi’s success, with the company rolling out a number of its Mi and Redmi series of phones in the territories.
Xiaomi’s has always emphasized on value, and it has helped broaden its sales in Europe. “Xiaomi has seen great success in Russia, Ukraine, Spain and Italy among others and found customers eager for its Mi and Redmi series of feature-rich, value smartphones,” said Boris Metodiev, associate director at Strategy Analytics.
Another factor that helped the Chinese firm to get on to the top position is the downfall of Huawei in the European market and also LG’s exit from the cellular market.
Fortunately, this year has been lucky for Xiaomi; not only is it now Europe’s biggest phone vendor, but it also kicked out Apple from the number two position in the global rankings with its 9.6m shipments in the quarter, giving it a 19.2% market share, ahead of Oppo (2.8m shipments for 5.6% share) and realme, whose 1.9m shipments for a 3.8% share represented an 1800% year-on-year growth.