China's Xiaomi is close to catching up with Apple on smartphone sales, analysts at IDC show.

For the second quarter of 2019, the US company has sold 33.8 million iPhones and ranks third among the most popular brands. Xiaomi immediately followed the giant with 32.3 million units sold.

The Chinese company is extremely pleased with the success and yesterday, CEO Lei Jun said they would fight for the third place in the ranking by the end of the year.

Xiaomi didn't go as lightning-fast as Huawei, who replaced Apple last year. But the persistence in creating a variety of budget-friendly but powerful devices has succeeded.

After being conveniently marketed, the company is now experimenting too - like the concept Mi Mix Alpha introduced yesterday. The smartphone has an "endless" screen that wraps around the entire body. According to the company, its development took 2 years, 70 million in research and development, and the work of about 1000 engineers.

According to IDC data, the situation on the world market remains the same - Samsung is the first, Huawei is the second, Apple and Xiaomi are ranked third and fourth, and fifth is the other Chinese company - Oppo.