China’s Xiaomi Corp has reported a smaller-than-expected 8.2 percent rise in third-quarter revenue as smartphone sales growth stalled amid intensifying competition from rivals.
The company, which gets the vast majority of its revenue by selling mobile handsets, said smartphone revenue rose 0.4 percent to 47.8 billion yuan ($7.49 billion) in the three months to September 30, Reuters reported from Shanghai on Tuesday.
Yet smartphone shipments fell 5.8 percent on the year in the third quarter to 43.9 million units. The company pointed to the global chip shortage as the cause of the decline.
On an earnings call, Xiaomi president Xiang Wang said that the company is “working hard” to obtain supplies for 4G handsets in overseas markets.
He added that he expects the shortage to persist into the first half of next year, though he still anticipates Xiaomi will “maintain very high growth” in 2022.
Overall sales rose to 78.06 billion yuan in the July-September quarter, missing a market estimate of 79.20 billion yuan from Refinitiv.
Xiaomi, which had managed to grab market share in China after the retreat of sanctions-hit rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, has recently lost ground to not just top-sellers Oppo and Vivo, but also Huawei spinoff brand Honor.
Honor edged past Xiaomi to grab the No. 3 spot in terms of smartphone market share in China in the July-September quarter, according to Canalys.
Xiaomi’s shipments in China grew just 4 percent year-on-year in the period, Canalys said. Overall smartphone sales in the country fell 5 percent.
Excluding one-time gains and losses, Xiaomi earned 5.18 billion yuan in profit, largely in line with the average analyst expectations for 5.09 billion yuan.