Xiaomi’s smartphone shipment decreased 10.2% which equals to 25 million in 2019 Q1.
LEI Jun, the founder and CEO of Xiaomi. Photo: Credit to Xiaomi
On May 2, 2019, Hong Kong Economic Times reported that although Xiaomi has published 2 models of smartphone, but these publications cannot promote its smartphone shipments. According to the global smartphone market report of 2019 Q1, which was published by IDC, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipment decreased 10.2% which equals to 25 million. In addition, the gross decline for the whole market was 6.6%. In terms of market share ratio, the top 3 were Samsung (23.1%), Huawei (19%) and Apple (11.7%), Xiaomi ranked 4th with 8%, and decreased 0.4%, year on year. However, comparing that with 2018 Q1, Xiaomi’s market share increased 0.4%. Currently, Xiaomi began its expansion in Latin America, and opened 3 Mi homes in Mexico, Chile and Columbia. Beyond this, Xiaomi aims to increase its stores in Europe in 2 times. However, according to IDC’s research, Xiaomi’s main targeting markets are still China mainland, India and Indonesia. In these 3 markets, only the Indian shipments were increasing.
Canalys, the data analysis company, published the Indian smartphone market share in 2019 Q1. Xiaomi occupied 31% of the total market share and ranked 1st. Samsung, occupied 24% and ranked 2nd. Comparing with Xiaomi, Huawei keeps a high-increasing. In 2019 Q1, Huawei’s global shipments was 59.1 million, with a YOY increase rate of 50.3%. Huawei’s market share ratio was 19% and ranked 2nd in the world. The smartphone shipment of Vivo, another Chinese smartphone manufacturer, increased 24% to 23.2 million, with a market share ratio of 7.5% and was very close to Xiaomi.
The 2019 Q1 is the 6th quarter during which the smartphone market decreased. In 2019 Q1, the global shipment of smartphone was 310.8 million, with a YOY decrease rate of 6.6%. In the top 5 companies, only Huawei and Vivo have an increasing smartphone shipment comparing with that of last year.
This is not Xiaomi’s first-time decrease. In the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2018, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipment began to decrease in domestic market. On Mar 19, 2019, Xiaomi published its annual report of 2018. In 2018 Q4, Xiaomi sold 25 million smartphones, that number was 3.5 million less than that of 2017 Q4, and 8.3 million less than that of 2018 Q3. ZHOU Shouzi (周受资), the senior vice president and CFO of Xiaomi group, explained that in 2018 Q4, Xiaomi published only one model, the Xiaomi Mix 3, which is a high-end flagship model. The Mix 3 was priced CNY 3299, which would definitely affect the users who are pursuing the high price-performance ratio. According to Xiaomi’s annual report, the average retail price of Xiaomi smartphone kept increasing during the past 3 quarters. In 2018 Q4, the average retail price of Xiaomi’s smartphone was CNY 1003, with a YOY increase rate of 22%.
The increasing price and the competition from other brands such as Vivo and Oppo may makes it harder for Xiaomi to occupy more market share, and the unexpected shipment of its new flagship model, Xiaomi 9, is another important factor of Xiaomi’s decreasing shipment in 2019 Q1.