Xiaomi’s entry into Western Europe could still be said to be in its infancy. The brand first launched its products officially in the region in November 2017 with a launch event in Spain. But the company seems to have gained some traction in Western Europe and recently, Xiaomi’s CFO revealed plans to expand in the region.
A market analytics report by Strategy Analytics has indeed confirmed Xiaomi’s rise in Western Europe. The report claims the Chinese company is now firmly established as the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the region, only behind the likes of Samsung, Apple and Huawei. This is despite having zero presence there just 2.5 years ago.
Xiaomi’s rise is attributed to the continuous collaboration with local operators, resulting in huge gains across Western Europe. Much of that growth was achieved at the expense of Huawei, which continues to shrink in the region following the US ban.
Xiaomi’s total global smartphone shipments remained flat annually in Q1 2020. Despite the lack of growth, the company performed much better than the overall smartphone market, which declined -17% YoY in Q1 2020. Xiaomi’s global market share by volume thus increased to all-time high of 10%.
“In an extremely challenging environment, due to the COVID-19 crisis, which affected the industry both on the demand and supply side, Xiaomi was affected to a lesser extent than the other big Chinese brands (Huawei, Oppo, vivo), because of its more diverse geographical footprint and online channel distribution approach”, the report states.
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(source)
