Xiaomi is known for its affordable and high-performance smartphones that rival Apple's. (Photo : TechCrunch.com)
Xiaomi, known for its low-cost mobile branding, grabbed the lead position in terms of market share based on shipments among smartphone firms in China in 2014. This is according to market intelligence company International Data Corp. (IDC).
In a statement released on Feb. 17, IDC revealed that Xiaomi had a total market share of 12.5 percent, only a few points ahead of South Korea smartphone giant Samsung's 12.1-percent share.
While Samsung slipped from 18.7 percent in 2013, upstart Xiaomi leaped big time from just 5.3 percent to a more-than-double statistic within a span of only a year.
Xiaomi was first launched in 2010 and has since become a popular choice among smartphone users because of its economical yet high-quality mobile products.
"Xiaomi's focus on selling with decent specifications, as well as the hype that it created through its flash sales, helped it obtain the top position," IDC emphasized.
According to Xiaomi, its smartphone sales increased by an overwhelming 227 percent. In 2014, it has sold more than 61 million units, securing its strong share in the market.
However, the smartphone producer was put in a bad light when critics stressed out that it simply copied the aesthetic feature of Apple's iPhones.
In China, the U.S.-based worldwide technology phenomenon failed to enter the top five smartphone companies in 2014.
Nonetheless, with the release of its large-screen mobiles, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the tech giant landed in last quarter's second spot in the smartphone market with a 12.3-percent share, coming behind Xiaomi's 13.7 percent.
The Apple-branded smartphones were launched in mainland China during the last quarter of 2014.
In total, China has received 420.7 million smartphone unit shipments from all vendors in 2014, the IDC remarked.
