Xiaomi is the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world at the moment, report claims

Earlier this year, Xiaomi's crusade towards the top of the smartphone market gave fruition as the China-based start-up that has been around for roughly four years surpassed one of the colossi in the industry, LG. At the time, Xiaomi nonchalantly hinted that it won't slow down its pace and would challenge both of its local rivals, Lenovo and Huawei.

Well, according to a report by Korean market research firm HIS iSuppli, Xiaomi has already surpassed the rest of the China-based smartphone giants in Q3 2014, just as many had expected. During this exact quarter, the Apple of China (as Xiaomi is often called) has sold 19 million handsets, a serious jump over the company's Q2 2014 record result of 15.1 million devices (14.6 million of which got sold in China alone). We should note that currently Xiaomi offers its products in just a handful of countries, most notably its home playground China, India, Singapore, and others. We guess the flash sales Xiaomi is popular for have proved to be more than beneficial for the maker.

Right behind Xiaomi's back, on the other hand, Lenovo and LG have also performed on market this quarter, but they couldn't keep their spots and succumbed to Xiaomi's supremacy, the report also claims. Naturally, at the top of the food chain we have the usual suspects – Samsung and Apple. So, which one's next, Xiaomi?

source: The Chosunilbo via GForGames