Shrinking Global market does not hinder Xiomi from becoming the top five smartphone vendors

Xiaomi, the China-based smartphone maker has regained its position as one of the top five vendors of smartphone in the global market as the market shrunk annually by a small fraction for the first time in 2017 according to a leading industry tracker.

According to the data from IDC which was released on February 2, the worldwide smartphone shipment volume in 2017 has dipped by 0.1 percent to 1.47 billion, representing the first annual shrinkage.

China and US, the world’s largest and third largest smartphone markets saw a downfall in the last fiscal quarter as consumers showed no strong desire to upgrade to more expensive phones. According to IDC, this led to a 6.3 percent year-on-year drop in total shipment volume in the quarter.

Strategy Analytics put the same figure at 9 percent which is the biggest fall in smartphone history.

According to IDC data, Apple has shipped more phones than Samsung despite the weak reception of iPhone X, in the last quarter.

China's Xiaomi occupied the spot of the world's fifth-largest smartphone maker, replacing its rival Vivo after its smartphone shipment grew 74.5 percent to 92.4 million units in the year. Samsung Electronics, Apple Inc., and China's Huawei Technologies and OPPO maintained their top four positions.

The global market shrunk towards the top five vendors during the year as shipment volume by others combined dropped to 11.7 percent.

Before its sales stagnated in 2016 and 2017 amid strong competition, Xiomi was once the largest vendor in China. And it is now exploring a public listing and is valued at $100 billion.

With its affordable, innovative products and international expansion, Xiomi has regained its growth momentum this year usurping Samsung as the largest vendor in India.

The Chinese smartphone market which is the world's largest, suffered its first annual fall in 2017, by 4 percent according to Canalys and by 1 percent according to Counterpoint Research.