Ten years later, Xiaomi has recovered the smartphone crown in China. And he has done it more huawei than ever

Ten years later, Xiaomi has recovered a crown that had been taken away: that of his native country. The company has just exceeded Huawei and is, at least in this first quarter of 2025, The first mobile brand in China. The key to get it, curiously, is increasingly Huawei.

An overwhelming annual growth. Regarding the same quarter of 2023, Xiaomi has grown no less than 40%. Huawei does it in 12%, and I live in 2%. In total, the company sent 13.3 million phones in its native country, very close to 13 million Huawei.

These figures make Xiaomi recover a first position he did not enjoy for a decade. Its scenario is favorable: Chinese brands They are the only ones that grow in their native country, and if this Xiaomi trend will be easy to strengthen its position.

The reasons for success. According to Canals, the growth of Xiaomi is helped by national subsidy policies and a rebound of the Chinese consumer consuming even more national company in full tariff war. Beyond the support of your country, analyzing Xiaomi’s strategy helps to understand its success. A quite similar to that of the rival that follows more closely: Huawei.

Xiaomi has a price of price very consistent in China through the different distributors, and a product diversification that drives you to continue growing as a brand. Its product portfolio has long stopped focusing only on the mobile: they are introduced into the electric carthe Aiot world, and especially in China they have a very interconnected portfolio with Hyperos. Xiaomi is stop selling only product: Sell ​​ecosystem.

Boom (for a long time) of national brands, solid product strategy, Pricing aggressive and a strong ecosystem. It is no accident: the two brands that grow the most in China and lead this market bet on these pillars.

The importance of AI. Deepseek is having a fundamental role in Chinese mobile sales. While in Europe we bet on Gemini and Chatgpt on Android, in China the integration with Depseek is quite deep. From Canalys they point out that the arrival of this model of AI is reviving the interest of consumers, and that mobile phones already represent 22% of shipments in continental China.

In the case of Xiaomi, Depseek is integrated into Hyperos to enhance its Super Xiaoai assistant, integrating the functions of deep thinking (R1) within the operating system itself.

The current Chinese podium. After Xiaomi’s victory, photography in China is the following, at least in the first quarter of the year.

• Xiaomi, 19% market share
• Huawei, 18% market share
• Oppo, 15% market share
• LIVE, 10.4 MARKET FEE
• Apple, 9.2% market share

In full tariff war, Apple will have it difficult to grow in China. In fact, in this first period of the year, its fall is 8%. On the side of Chinese brands, Oppo is the only one that does not grow. Xiaomi, Huawei and Vivo start the year in positive.

An independent market. The presence of Chinese mobiles in Europe is remarkable. So much that Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo occupy the third, fourth and fifth position of the podium in the first quarter of 2025, Behind Samsung and Apple. But the Chinese market is different. It’s a Market with special weight of national technology, and a hyperdigitized retail channel that allows it to be even more competitive in price.

The context of tariff crisis will only push national brands, throwing the doubt what will happen with Apple that has been losing ground in China for years.

Image | Xataka

In Xataka | The new Chinese tariffs are a mosquadilla for Apple. It is just what Huawei needed to dominate Asia