Like many companies operating in the technology space, the combination of the pandemic and chip shortages have proved significant hurdles fro Xiaomi, but the Chinese smartphone brand has backed its own resiliency and achieved a 21.4 percent increase in revenue for Q4 2021.

The firm unpacked its latest quarterly report, along with its numbers for the year, which ended 31st December 2021.

While quarterly earnings are not exactly the most exciting of affairs, this one is of particular interest given the renewed efforts that the company has been making in South Africa, with greater visibility in the market and seemingly launching more devices in the calendar than we have seen previously.

Xiaomi, along with Oppo, appear to vying for a share of the ground that Huawei has lost in recent years, something that research Canalys is also acutely aware of in its own market analysis.

“According to Canalys, Xiaomi’s market share of smartphone shipments ranked No. 1 in 14 countries and regions and among the top five in 62 countries and regions globally. In Europe, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments in Europe ranked No. 2 in 2021 with 22.5% market share,” the company cites in its press release.

“Emerging markets maintained strong growth momentum. In Latin America and Africa, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments in 2021 grew 94.0% and 65.8% year-on-year, respectively, and were the No. 3 smartphone vendor in both regions,” it adds.

Sadly more detailed information regarding South African market share and growth are not available at the time of writing, but as the year progresses, we should have a better idea of where Xiaomi ranks thanks to other industry reports.

Hopefully we should see more flagship devices in the coming months too, with the likes of the 11T Pro already impressing when we reviewed it last year.

“In 2021, Xiaomi’s overseas shipments of smartphones with retail prices at or above EUR300 increased over 160% year-over-year. According to Canalys, Xiaomi ranked No. 3 in terms of overseas shipments of premium smartphones with retail prices at or above USD350 in 2021, indicating that Xiaomi’s commitment to premiumization overseas is bearing fruit,” the company explained.

“Xiaomi 12 series has instantly become one of the most popular premium smartphones after launch leveraging on its hardware and innovative technologies. Its omni-channel sales exceeded RMB1.8 billion in just 5 minutes after launch,” it adds.

No word yet on a local launch of the 12 series, but given the strong Q4, we could see it land soon.