Xiaomi became the number one smartphone brand in the world for the first time ever in June 2021. The Chinese company sold the most smartphones in its history in June this year. The latest data comes from research firm Counterpoint and states that Xiaomi’s expansion in Huawei and Honor’s legacy markets including Africa, China, Europe, and Middle East helped teach this milestone. Xiaomi was founded in 2010 and released its first smartphone in 2011.

Xiaomi sales grew by 26 percent compared to May, and it captured 17.1 percent market share in terms of global smartphone sales. Samsung followed with its 15.7 percent market share and Apple at 14.3 percent. The data shared by Counterpoint states that in the second quarter of this year, Xiaomi was the number two brand globally in terms of smartphone sales.

The company sold its first smartphone in 2011 and since then, it has sold around 800 million smartphones globally.

Research Director Tarun Pathak from Counterpoint noted that Xiaomi has filled the gap left by Huawei in markets like Africa, China, Europe, and Middle East. In the month of June, sales in China, Europe, and India contributed to Xiaomi’s growth. In China specifically, Xiaomi was the faster growing brand in June thanks to the sale volumes of the Redmi 9, Redmi Note 9, and the Redmi K series. Notably, Samsung’s production was also negatively affected by the new wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, where it has its manufacturing factory.

The research firm also points out that depending on the situation on Vietnam, Samsung may still stay behind Xiaomi in sales. However, once the situation improves, Samsung may be back on top.