It is no secret that Samsung has been given a tough time in the global smartphone market particularly by companies that make relatively cheaper devices and this jeopardizes the company's top smartphone vendor crown in many markets. If a report by research firm IDC is to be believed then China is one of those markets because in Q4 2014 Xiaomi set aside Samsung to become China's top smartphone vendor. Xiaomi demonstrated strong year-over-year growth with quarterly smartphone shipments surging from 5.3 percent in 2013 to 12.5 percent in Q4 2014. On the other hand Samsung's share dropped from 18.7 percent to 12.1 percent during the same time last year.
Xiaomi's success can be attributed to its aggressive pricing strategies which has propelled the company to the top of the charts in just a couple of years. The Chinese manufacturer has now started expanding device sales to other countries in Asia and it is also making its way to North America though initially it will sell products other than smartphones in this part of the world.
Samsung's strong position has come under increasing pressure since last year. A recent report from research firm Canalys suggested that Samsung had also lost the top smartphone vendor crown in India to Micromax but the company was quick to refute that report. Xiaomi had been dubbed China's top smartphone vendor as far back as August 2014 and by Q3 2014 many research firms placed the company third on the list of top global smartphone manufacturers.
