Xiaomi was one of the world's top three smartphone producers in the third quarter of this year; the first time it's ever reached that position, claiming 13.5% of the global market by shipping 47.1 million devices. The figures come from technology analyst company Canalys, which puts Huawei in second place and Samsung in the lead. Samsung's total of 80.2 million devices (a 23% global market share) was up 2% year-on-year. Overall, total shipments reached 348 million units, which was a 1% fall from the same time last year but up 22% on the previous quarter. Apple was in fourth place, Vivo in fifth, then Oppo, Realme, Lenovo and Transsion. Apple launched its new iPhone in September last year but chose October this year.

Mo Jia, an analyst at Canalys, said "Xiaomi executed with aggression to seize shipments from Huawei. There was symmetry in Q3, as Xiaomi added 14.5 million units and Huawei lost 15.1 million. In Europe, a key battleground, Huawei’s shipments fell 25%, while Xiaomi’s grew 88%. Xiaomi took a risk setting high production targets, but this move paid off when it was able to fill channels in Q3 with high-volume devices, such as the Redmi 9 series."

However, the challenges of working amidst a global pandemic are clear, as senior analyst Ben Stantion explained. "This quarter was a welcome relief, with few restrictions on businesses and citizens between July and September. But the ramifications of the first-half lockdowns still persist. Offline channels, for example, are being increasingly pared back, amid store closures and staff redundancies, and vendors now have to compete harder to attain floorspace. Limited supply of 4G chipsets will cause supply chain bottlenecks and increase production costs. Additionally, rising COVID-19 rates in regions such as Europe will soon force governments to bring back stricter nationwide measures. The second wave will stretch government stimulus budgets, and cause widespread bankruptcies and job losses in affected areas. Unfortunately, the relief of Q3 looks set to be short-lived."