Xiaomi 14 sales top 1 million units as it jostles with Huawei and Apple in China’s shrinking smartphone market

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said sales of the flagship phone, running Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, topped 1 million in less than two weeks

Competition in China’s smartphone market has been heating up since Huawei’s release of the Mate 60 and Apple’s iPhone 15 launch

Reading Time:2 minutes

A promotional image for the Xiaomi 14 Pro 5G. The popularity of Xiaomi 14 series handsets in China is heating up competition in a smartphone market facing declining shipments. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:30pm, 8 Nov 2023

Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said the smartphone giant has sold more than 1 million units of its Xiaomi 14 handsets amid intensifying competition in the domestic market after recent Apple and Huawei releases.

“It is true that [Xiaomi 14 sales] have surpassed 1 million units, but the shortage in stock remains severe,” Lei posted on Weibo on Tuesday, in response to another user’s question. “We are exerting the utmost strength to rush our orders; please be patient.”

The Xiaomi 14, launched on October 26, is the latest flagship smartphone from the brand once known for its budget handsets. It is also the first smartphone on the market to use Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, along with Xiaomi’s new Android-based operating system HyperOS.

The device’s popularity adds fuel to the competitive fire burning through China’s smartphone market after Huawei’s comeback in the high-end 5G segment with the Mate 60 series in late August and the release of the iPhone 15 in September.

China’s smartphone market will face “a structural change” upon Huawei’s return and declining iPhone demand in 2024, according to Kuo Ming-chi, a TF International Securities analyst known for his accurate assessments of Apple’s business.

“The iPhone shipment decline in China is higher than expected … primarily due to a decline in iPhone demand,” Kuo wrote on Twitter last week.

By the end of September, Apple was estimated to have shipped 3 million iPhone 15 series phones, while shipments of the Mate 60 series topped 2 million in the third quarter, according to Canalys.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x