Once China’s smartphone king, Samsung is no longer even in the top 5

The Xiaomi Mi4 helped keep the Chinese brand at the top of its home market. But that feat seems unlikely in 2016.

China’s smartphone shipments reached a record high in the final three months of last year.

Xiaomi retained the top spot in 2015 in China.

Manufacturers shipped 117.3 million smartphones to stores in Q4 2015, up eight percent on the figure a year prior, International Data Corporation (IDC) said today.

That was “partly driven by China’s annual Singles Day online shopping festival in November and Huawei’s strong shipments in the quarter,” said IDC in a statement.

Xiaomi retained the top spot for 2015 in China, which it first achieved in 2014. That came despite much stronger growth by compatriot rival Huawei – as well as a stellar year for Apple’s iPhone.

Samsung, which was China’s top smartphone brand in 2012 and 2013, dropped out of the top five altogether last year. That was despite the Korean giant clinging on to second position back in 2014.

Filling out the new order, Oppo rose to fourth in terms of number of units shipped, while Vivo came fifth.

Peak smartphone

This is China’s smartphone market and its gradual plateauing since 2013:

While this is the global scene, with China and India picked out:

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