Xiaomi, on Friday, revealed that it shipped more than 70 million smartphones in 2015, falling short of target by 10 million handsets. The affordable Chinese smartphone maker claims it had the largest market share in China last year.
Xiaomi had initially targeted 100 million shipments throughout 2015, but the company reduced the projection to 80 million following slow semi-annual sales. Despite missing the target, Xiaomi said it secured top position in the China's market share last year, leaving behind some serious rivals such as Huawei and Lenovo, according to Reuters.
A recent report by the Wall Street Journal said Huawei became the first China-based tech company to ship more than 100 million smartphones (including the ones shipped to distributors) in a year. Huawei claimed it had shipped 108 million smartphones in 2015, defying the market slowdown with a significant 44 percent jump over 2014.
Xiaomi faces stiff competition from Huawei and Lenovo in China and other international markets such as India and Brazil. The Chinese smartphone giant did not break down the sales by specific country, making it hard to interpret the level of success it had in its home turf and international grounds.
In 2014, Xiaomi recorded 61 million sales, which grew 14.5 percent this year. According to Reuters, tech analyst Neil Shah at Counterpoint Research forecasts Xiaomi's 2016 growth rate at 16 percent. Shah's projection is based on the fact that Xiaomi will expand its presence in new markets – Latin America, Eastern Europe and the U.S. – this year.
"For Xiaomi, the smartphone is still its biggest product line and generates around 90 percent of their revenue," Reuters quoted Shah as saying.
Xiaomi has put its market value at $45 billion, following a $1.1 billion funding in late-2014. According to IDC, Xiaomi ranked fifth after Samsung, Apple, Huawei and Lenovo in the third quarter last year.
