Xiaomi sales exceed over million 3Q

Newcomer Xiaomi yesterday revealed it sold over a million smartphones in the third quarter of 2015 in India.

This was the best ever quarter the smartphone maker had recorded which was in contrast to its performance in China where it recorded slowing sales and amid growing competition from other local rivals.

''We have registered 45 per cent quarter on quarter growth in the first three quarters of this year,'' Manu Kumar Jain, India head for Xiaomi told BGR India.

A report released by Counterpoint Research, earlier this week claimed that Micromax-owned YU had sold more smartphones online than Xiaomi in the third quarter.

''I'm not sure what is the basis of the report, which grossly underestimates our numbers. We report actual sales whereas most reports have shipment numbers. Also, we are not sure whether it takes into account our India manufacturing. The Redmi 2 Prime is now our best selling smartphone and we are manufacturing them in India,'' Jain explained.

As regards online sales, Jain pointed out that Xiaomi smartphones were on the top of best-selling list across all online retailers during their Diwali sales, which pointed to the health of its sales.

According to Counterpoint its data was based on surveys of suppliers and sales networks.

Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak pointed to competition from another Chinese vendor, Lenovo Group, and home-grown Micromax Informatics Ltd's YU brand of phones for the Xiomi's decline.

Competition was stiff in the less-than-$100 price category, which was where most phones were sold in India, he wrote in the blog.

According to Neil Shah, co-founder and director of Counterpoint, Xiomi brought 600,000 phones into India in the third quarter, while Lenovo and its Motorola Mobility unit together brought in roughly 2 million. Micromax brought in 800,000 YU phones, according to Shah.

Authorities in China have launched an investigation against Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Corp for alleged violation of China's new advertising law, which bans use of superlative adjectives for promoting products, according to official media reports. (See: Xiaomi under probe in China for alleged violation of advertising law).