Xiaomi, to be sure, still has a strong position. The smartphone maker last year had a 14% market share, and the number this year will hover above 11%, according to Counterpoint Research. But rivals are catching up fast. Competitors are duplicating its "flash sales" business model by selling high-spec smartphones in limited batches online- a strategy that helped Xiaomi to gain a $46 billion valuation last year, second only to Uber's $50 billion. Xiaomi's biggest rival is Huawei Technologies, which last year dethroned it as China's top smartphone maker, according to market research firm Canalys. Huawei in 2015 sold 100 million smartphones, ranking it as the third largest smartphone maker worldwide after Apple and Samsung, according to the company.