Xiaomi’s profit jumps 19pc in third quarter as smartphone shipments surge

Xiaomi Corp reported a 19 per cent jump in third quarter net profit on Tuesday, beating estimates, as the Chinese smartphone maker's smartphone shipments over the quarter surged by 45.3 per cent on a year earlier.

Smartphone revenue grew to 47.6 billion yuan, an increase of 47.5 per cent in the same period, it said in a statement. Overall quarterly revenue rose to 72.1 billion yuan, up from 53.7 billion yuan.

Analysts had on average forecasted that Xiaomi would report quarterly net profit of around 3.28 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data.

Xiaomi has grabbed market share from in China and Europe as its rival Huawei Technologies has struggled with U.S. sanctions that have disrupted its supply chain.

The company anticipates it will continue to gain market share after the last round of U.S. sanctions against the latter disrupted its supply chains in August, several industry sources told Reuters.

Xiaomi placed orders for up to 100 million phones between the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021, up 50 per cent on projections before the August restrictions, consultancy Isaiah Research said.

The company rose to become the third-biggest seller of handsets in the third quarter, shipping 47.1 million units with 45 per cent growth, according to consultancy Canalys. Samsung is the largest, followed by Huawei.

Xiaomi is also attempting to court Huawei's distributors in Southeast Asia and Europe in the hopes of gaining exclusive deals, and is actively targeting Huawei's high-end market share in China, said a source at Xiaomi familiar with the matter.