Xiaomi ousted Apple from the top three smartphone manufacturers by global shipments in Q3, Canalys statistics showed, with Samsung regaining the top spot from Huawei having lost its place in the previous quarter.

The analyst company noted Xiaomi’s shipments increased 45 per cent year-on-year to 47.1 million units. The jump was attributed in part to taking a large slice of share from under-fire Huawei, predominantly in Europe. Huawei experienced a 25 per cent drop in shipments across Europe in Q3, while Xiaomi’s rose 88 per cent.

Apple’s shipments were broadly flat at 43.2 million, dropping the company to fourth place.

Samsung shipments increased 2 per cent to 80.2 million while Huawei’s plummeted 23 per cent to 51.7 million.

Although aided by Huawei’s drop-off, Samsung’s return to the top spot was also said to be due to addressing pent-up demand from Q2, regaining share in India, and ramping promotion of its low- to mid-tier range.

Vivo rounded out the top five in Q3 with 31.8 million units shipped, followed by Oppo (31.1 million); Realme (15.1 million); Lenovo (10.2 million) and Africa-focused brand Transsion (8.4 million).

Dour outlook
Worldwide smartphone shipments were down 1 per cent to 348 million units, though Canalys noted a 22 per cent sequential gain.

Despite this, senior analyst Ben Stanton warned of risks around the return of stricter Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown measures in Europe and economic factors.

“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.”