Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi has become the number two vendor in the smartphone market as per IDC Q4CY16 Quarterly smartphone tracker. Xiaomi also announced that it sold more than three million units of Redmi 3S (includes Redmi 3S, Redmi 3S Prime and Redmi 3S+) in less than six months. The unprecedented success of the Redmi 3S series contributed majorly to Xiaomi’s growth this quarter. Continuing its online dominance, Xiaomi retained the number 1 position in the online smartphone market in Q4 2016.

According to IDC’s India Quarterly Smartphone Tracker – February 2017 Release, “Xiaomi climbed up to 2nd place with 10.7 percent share in CY Q4 2016 against 3.3 percent share in the same period last year. Year-on-year shipments grew threefold while sequential growth was 15.3 percent in CY Q4 2016. Xiaomi also expanded its retail presence with the launch of an exclusive model for offline channels in CY Q4 2016.”

“Product is at the core of Xiaomi’s strategy, and a strong line-up of products with distinctive technological innovations has been critical in driving our India story. This has been supported with robust operational growth through improvements in our online and offline sales structure, hiring of key talent, expansion of our customer care and after-sales service, and increasing our manufacturing capacity. Our great results in 2016 were made possible because of the love from our Mi Fans who have driven our success to new heights. We are committed to sustaining the momentum and will continue to launch amazing products here in India,” said Manu Jain, India MD of Xiaomi.

Xiaomi entered India in July 2014 and has since disrupted the smartphone industry with its high-quality devices. With its Redmi series, it has redefined the sub-10K category with smartphones that outclass the competition.

Launched in August 2016, Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime became an instant hit with customers who were looking for a high-quality device in the sub INR 10K category. Soon after its launch, Xiaomi announced an offline only variant — Redmi 3S+ in October which further contributed to its success. Redmi 3S was the first ever smartphone in India to be powered by the octa-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 430 processor. Some other notable features of Redmi 3S include a huge 4100mAh battery, giving it an almost two-day battery life on regular usage.

The success of Redmi 3S comes on the back of Xiaomi’s commitment to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative with close to 100 percent of the Redmi 3S series manufactured locally.