Xiaomi is now world's third biggest smartphone maker: IDC

Xiaomi has now become world's third largest smartphone maker mainly because of its focus on China and adjacent markets, says the latest data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

According to preliminary data IDC, vendors shipped a total of 327.6 million units during the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14), resulting in 25.2% growth when compared to the 261.7 million units shipped in 3Q13 and 8.7% sequential growth above the 301.3 million units shipped in 2Q14.

"The next three vendors – Xiaomi, Lenovo, and LG Electronics – all posted market-beating growth and with markedly different strategies," adds Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team. "This shows that there is still room to compete in this market, whether it be in the low end as Lenovo has done, at the high end where Xiaomi competes, or in both as LG Electronics has shown. Beyond the top five, there are a number of other vendors achieving similar results."

"Despite rumors of a slowing market, smartphone shipments continue to see record-setting volumes," says Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "We've finally reached a point where most developed markets are experiencing single-digit growth while emerging markets are still growing at more than 30% collectively. In these markets, smartphone price points are making mobile computing possible where we once expected feature phones to remain dominant. This is great news for overall volumes, but the challenge has now become how to make money on devices that are quickly becoming commodity products. Outside of Apple, many are struggling to do this."

Check out below IDC's figures on top five smartphone vendors, shipments, market share and year-over-year growth, Q3 2014 Preliminary Data (Units in Millions)

Vendor	2014Q3 Shipment Volumes	2014Q3 Market Share	2013Q3 Shipment Volumes	2013Q3 Market Share	3Q14/3Q13 Change
1. Samsung	78.1	23.8%	85.0	32.5%	-8.2%
2. Apple	39.3	12.0%	33.8	12.9%	16.1%
3. Xiaomi	17.3	5.3%	5.6	2.1%	211.3%
4. Lenovo*	16.9	5.2%	12.3	4.7%	38.0%
4. LG*	16.8	5.1%	12.0	4.6%	39.8%
Others	159.2	48.6%	113.0	43.2%	40.8%
Total	327.6	100.0%	261.7	100.0%	25.2%

Source: IDC