According to you, Xiaomi is massively underestimated

In the smartphone market, you will always have winners and losers. However, since the arrival of Chinese brands such as OnePlus, Xiaomi and OPPO, the market seems a bit grimmer. Brands that are just entering the market are often underestimated, which means that companies like LG eventually have to leave the market. What are the most underrated brands? Read it in the AW Poll results.

Winners and losers

Creating opportunities in a market filled with Chinese ‘price fighters’ turned out to be too difficult for the Korean LG at the beginning of this year. After repeated attempts to gain market share, the LG part was sold off completely. Not only LG had a hard time holding its own in the market – HTC also seems to be dying. Often brands like HTC are unable to offer competitive specifications, so Chinese players often come out as the better choice.

You can now also see this happening in the midrange segment, with the Poco X3 Pro making it quite difficult for devices such as Motorola’s G9 Plus and OnePlus’ N10 5G. The market share is thus swallowed by price fighters. In 2020, Poco and Xiaomi managed to grow significantly in their market share; growth that came at the expense of market share from Nokia, HTC and even OnePlus.

Last year, Xiaomi rose to become a player in global rankings with a market share of 6.3 percent, while in 2019 the company had a market share of 3.7 percent. In the same period, Nokia showed a decline from 7.3 percent in 2019, to 5.5 percent in 2020. OnePlus saw a slight contraction of 0.7 percentage points. Finally, OPPO, which also grew in 2020. The company achieved a market share of 0.8 percent in 2019. A year later, OPPO doubled its market share to 1.7 percent.

AW Poll, what do you think

For example, underdogs in the smartphone market can become leaders that need to be watched closely within a year. Who might be the next underdog to challenge Samsung? After the disappearance of Huawei as a top player in the market, that position is up for grabs. We asked in the AW Poll which brand you think is underestimated too much. A first look at the chart below shows that Xiaomi is the real underdog for you – some 13.5 percent of readers think that Xiaomi’s impact on the smartphone market is underestimated.

OnePlus follows in second place, with 13.1 percent of the vote. It is striking that OnePlus showed a decline in market share in 2020. However, with OPPOs and OnePlus’ renewed partnership, there’s a good chance that OnePlus will change course to turn that contraction into growth. OnePlus’ sister company, OPPO, is also high on the ‘underdog radar’ with 8.1 percent of your votes. Furthermore, you have high expectations of Motorola (10.1 percent), while Microsoft is finished according to the Androidworld readers (0.5 percent).

Whether this ranking will come out will be revealed in the coming years. It is almost certain that Xiaomi will play an important role in the market. Still, the chances are slim that Samsung will let loose and be eaten by Xiaomi. Certainly in the higher segment, Samsung is still in the lead, but Xiaomi does not necessarily offer ‘more functions’ than Samsung for the same amount. How do you think the smartphone market will develop? Let us know in the comments below this article.