<div>There was a time when smartphone users frowned upon the mention of a Chinese smartphone, but today almost everyone is trying to get their hands on one. With a number of mobile brands from China entering the smartphone market in India, the biggest of them all, Xiaomi has yet again maintained the top spot in China. According to the Q1 2015 results, out of the total 99 million smartphones sold in China, 14.2 million were made by Xiaomi. This marks about 14 per cent of the total Chinese smartphone market share which is quite an achievement for a five year old company.</div><div> </div><div>Recently the company made a global announcement of their newest smartphone in India which has been creating a buzz. The Mi 4i is a new lower cost variant of their previous flagship, the Mi 4, with the latest gen hardware packed in neatly designed body. Known for its aggressive sales strategy, Xiaomi invited close to 3000 fans along with the media for the Mi 4i global launch, which sounded like a nice gesture to engage with its consumers, but turned out to be chaotic due to the overwhelming attendance. The new device packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor (64-bit) with 2 GB of RAM, 16GB of built in storage, a 5-inch 1080p display, 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras, and the latest Android Lollipop update. Priced at Rs. 12,999 the Mi 4i is definitely bang on for the money, but with no SD card expansion, it could lead to some annoyed consumers.</div><div> </div><div>The company also announced that it will be selling the Mi Band, their fitness band, in India at a low cost of Rs 999. The Mi Band is a nifty tool that tracks your walking activity, sleep pattern and gives you notification and alarm alerts by vibrating around your wrist.</div><div> </div><div>All said and done, Xiaomi is becoming a big brand but it is still behind tech giants Samsung and Apple. Speaking of which, according to Reuters, Samsung is yet again the leader in global smartphone sales as it has managed to capture a 24 per cent market share in the first quarter of 2015. The company is said to have shipped 83.2 million smartphones worldwide which is a drop from 31 per cent last year but still enough to be announced as the leader followed by Apple with a total market share of 18 per cent. </div>
