China’s Xiaomi Corp. on Tuesday 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 by 0.4 percent to 47.8 billion yuan ($7.49 billion) in the three months to September 30.
Yet quarterly smartphone shipments fell by 5.8 percent on the year, from 46.6 million units to 43.9 million units. The company pointed to the global chip shortage as the cause of the decline. Overall sales rose to 78.06 billion yuan, 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., has recently lost ground to not just top-sellers Oppo and Vivo, but also Huawei spinoff brand Honor.