Chinese Smartphone Company Tops Apple

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Sep 20, 6:50AM EDT

Chinese Smartphone Company Tops Apple — © iStock / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

24/7 Wall St. Insights

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) lost the number two spot in global smartphone sales in August.
The iPhone 16 likely will help Apple regain the number two spot this month.
Also: Discover the Next Nvidia.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) lost the number two spot in global smartphone sales to China’s Xiaomi in August. Samsung holds the top spot most months. Will this situation persist as iPhone 16 sales begin?

According to research firm Counterpoint, Xiaomi sales were flat month over month in August. iPhone sales dropped. The data usually show a dip in iPhone sales at the end of the summer, likely because the next generation of iPhone is announced in September. Part of Xiaomi’s success was due to brisk sales in Latin America.

Counterpoint Research Director Tarun Pathak said Xiaomi has recently decided to focus on fewer models. “Besides, it has also re-energized its sales and marketing focus while continuing expansion into newer markets and consolidating its position in existing markets. While entry-to-mid-tier devices continue to show strong performance for Xiaomi, it has also made inroads into the premium segment with foldable and ‘ultra’ devices.”

Counterpoint expects the iPhone 16 to help Apple regain the number two spot. However, its researchers cautioned that as more smartphone companies add sophisticated AI features and foldable phones, Apple may start to lose what has been considered a technology edge.

Prediction: Apple Turns Rotten in October

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.