Beijing-based Xiaomi Inc. has now become the world's third-largest vendor of smartphones, trailing only South Korean Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and U.S.-based Apple Inc., a study by Strategy Analytics shows.

Reuters reports that China's Xiaomi achieved such a status just three years after hitting the smartphone market with its Android Mi1 in 2011. The company has been in existence since 2010.

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According to the Strategy Analytics study, Xiaomi accounted for 6 percent of about 320 million smartphones sold between July and September this year. Xiaomi also was the best performer in terms of smartphone shipments this year, since both Samsung and Apple experienced significant reduction in their sales compared to a year ago.

Samsung, from 35 percent last year, made up 25 percent of the sales due to rising competition from several directions. Apple's share also fell slightly to 12 percent.

"Samsung continues to face tough competition from Apple at the higher-end of the smartphone market, from Xiaomi and Huawei in the middle-tiers, and from Lenovo and others at the entry-level," said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics.

Xiaomi continues to be the top seller in China and just recently entered India, where it is sold exclusively through Flipkart, an e-commerce site.

In Bangalore last month, Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barra, who moved from Android recently, said the company aimed to sell 100,000 phones a week in India in October when the country celebrates Diwali.

On Tuesday, Xiaomi kicked off its eighth flash sale for its Redmi 1S smartphone via Flipkart, with 60,000 units going on sale. 

TagsChina technology