Xiaomi is one of those players where you've probably heard its name quite a bit, but may not have a great sense for just how big it is on the international smartphone market. To simply acknowledge its bigness risks understatement, but now we have one very clear way to put it: Last month, Xiaomi sold more smartphones than Apple.

That's according to the latest analysis from Counterpoint Research, and while that's a major mark to hit, it's not one without precedent: Xiaomi similarly eked past Apple back around this time in 2021. Although Xiaomi's been having a solid 2024, displaying growth month after month, the circumstances of it crossing this threshold are honestly less about Xiaomi and more about Apple, and how the company's sales always cool off in the time immediately preceding the launch of its latest iPhones.