Xiaomi is having one hell of a year. The company recently dethroned Samsung in the European market to become the best-selling smartphone brand in Q2 2021. And now, it has achieved the same status globally, even though it doesn't operate in the US market.

According to a recent market study report from Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi is now the number one brand in global smartphone sales volumes. This is the first time the company has achieved this position, thanks to a 26% MoM growth in sales in June 2021. While it was the best-selling smartphone brand in June, Samsung still retains the top spot for Q2 2021 as a whole. Xiaomi took the second spot in the last quarter, with a 98% YoY growth and over 50 million units shipped.

Since its inception in 2011, Xiaomi has sold close to 800 million smartphones. The company now has a global smartphone revenue share of 9%. In comparison, Apple has a global smartphone revenue share of 41% and Samsung 15%.

Talking about the market dynamics that led to Xiaomi taking the top spot in June 2021, Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, noted: "Ever since the decline of Huawei commenced, Xiaomi has been making consistent and aggressive efforts to fill the gap created by this decline. The OEM has been expanding in Huawei's and Honor's legacy markets like China, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In June, Xiaomi was further helped by China, Europe and India's recovery and Samsung's decline due to supply constraints."

However, the report speculates that Samsung will likely retain its top spot once it recovers from the production issues that it's facing in Vietnam. If its production doesn't recover, Xiaomi will continue to gain market share in the coming months.

It's worth noting that Samsung's flagship Galaxy S21 series has also performed well below the company's expectations. Recent reports suggest that the company held a special review meeting to address the poor sales and the supply chain issues.