Xiaomi’s smartphone business entered the first quarter of 2026 with a mixed picture: fewer phones shipped, but a higher average selling price. That combination has put the company’s handset performance under sharper scrutiny, especially as component cost pressure continues to weigh on the business.
The company shipped 33.8 million smartphones in the three months to the end of March. That was down 19.2% year on year and marked the steepest decline among the world’s five largest smartphone makers.
A weaker quarter, but not a weaker position everywhere
Even with that drop, Xiaomi held onto third place in the global smartphone market. The company stayed ahead of Oppo and vivo, which both also saw declines in the period.
Oppo, ranked fourth, fell 6.6% year on year, while vivo, in fifth place, slipped 6.7%. By contrast, Samsung and Apple both grew, with Samsung up 8.0% and Apple rising 9.9% over the same period.
Higher prices per phone
What made Xiaomi’s quarter stand out was the movement in pricing. Its average selling price for smartphones rose to CNY 1,310, up from CNY 1,211 in the previous quarter.
That figure was also 8% higher than in the first quarter of last year. The rise came at a time when the company was facing pressure from component costs, suggesting Xiaomi is trying to support value per device even as shipment volumes soften.
A broad footprint still helps
Xiaomi’s global ranking is supported by a wide regional presence. The company sits in second place in Latin America and third in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
In India, Xiaomi is fourth, while in China it ranked third at the end of March with a 16% market share. That spread across major markets helps explain why the company remains a significant global player despite the sharp shipment decline.
Profit fell more sharply than revenue
The pressure was visible in Xiaomi’s broader financial results as well. The company reported profit of CNY 6.1 billion in the first quarter of 2026 on revenue of CNY 99.1 billion.
Profit was down 43.1% from CNY 10.7 billion a year earlier. Revenue also fell from CNY 111.3 billion in the same quarter last year, but not by as much as profit, highlighting a heavier strain on the business early in 2026.
Other categories remain active
Outside smartphones, Xiaomi still has strong positions in wearables and audio products. It ranks third globally in smart bands and second in China for the same category.
In TWS buds, Xiaomi holds second place both globally and in China. Those results show that its consumer device ecosystem remains competitive even as the phone business faces headwinds.
Not every category moved in the same direction, though. Xiaomi’s tablet shipments dropped 13.6% globally, pushing it down to fifth place after it had previously been in the top three.
Huawei climbed to third in the global tablet market after growing 28.6%, while Lenovo moved into fourth with 20.0% growth. In electric vehicles, Xiaomi shipped 80,856 units in the first quarter, with the Xiaomi YU7 series now driving most of the volume and growing faster than the Xiaomi SU7 series.
For now, however, the main focus remains on smartphones, where shipment volume fell sharply even as average prices increased and profit came under stronger pressure.