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The company that wants to become the Apple of China has just taken a serious bite out of Samsungs market share. China is currently the worlds largest single smartphone market and over the past three months, according to the latest Canalys research, accounted for 37% of all phone shipments globally — thats 108.5 million handsets. Xiaomi, a handset maker that a year ago was pretty much unheard of, has jumped to the front of the pack, shipping 15 million phones — 1.8 million more than Samsung — and snagging a 14% marketshare in the process. This rocketing popularity might seem implausible at first, especially considering the amount of home-grown competition in the Chinese market — everyone from Lenovo to Huawei and ZTE — but the head of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, has built up massive customer loyalty over the past year, whether through involving them directly in the development of new software and features or by hosting a string of ‘thank you events, rewarding their support.