Xiaomi Sold 14.8 Million Smartphones in Q1 2016, Claims IHS Analyst

Kevin Wang of IHS Technology claims that Xiaomi sold 14.8 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2016. That the figures includes the smartphones sold outside China as well.

The Xiaomi Q1 smartphone sales figures claimed by Wang (via Android Headlines) are almost identical to last year's, with the firm selling around 14.98 million smartphones in its first quarter. It's worth noting that the Chinese company has yet to announce its first quarter results for 2016.

Xiaomi so far has unveiled the Redmi 3 smartphone in China which was later followed by the Redmi Note 3 smartphone launch. The Chinese company also unveiled the Mi 5 flagship smartphone which went on sale through flash sales.

For Xiaomi, 2016 is an important year as the company missed its smartphone shipment target last year because of competition from other Chinese handset brands including Lenovo and Huawei. The company said it had shipped over 70 million handsets in 2015, significantly lower than previous projections.

Xiaomi despite missing its 2015 smartphones shipment target, it topped the Chinese market last year. Market research firms Canalys and Strategy Analytics showed that Xiaomi left behind Huawei to reclaim the top position in China.

Xiaomi has already confirmed that India is the company's biggest overseas market, second worldwide only to its homeland China. The company is now looking to set up single-brand retail stores to sell Mi devices in India. Recently, Chinese maker also sought exemption from the Indian government's compulsory 30 percent local sourcing norms for opening its single brand retail stores.