Which of these two do consumers prefer: Huawei or Xiaomi?

Huawei and Xiaomi are the two biggest names in China’s smartphone market at the moment, but which of the two do Chinese consumers like the most? Well, if you’re going by sales numbers, then Huawei is surprisingly the winner, as the company has been selling record numbers of smartphones this year, while Xiaomi is struggling just to meet the low end of its sales goal for the year. The results of an only poll from Sina Tech are equally surprising, with the overwhelming majority of the 12,000 people polled saying that they prefer Huawei to Xiaomi.

Recently, Huawei and Xiaomi have been sharing the headlines. That’s because Xiaomi’s slowdown in smartphone sales has been Huawei’s gain, with the latter looking to exceed sales targets while the former struggles to meet them this year. But does this switch-up reflect a change in Chinese consumer perceptions about these companies? One online poll certainly suggests so. A Sina Tech online poll that asks readers which company they prefer in the smartphone sales battle has come to an overwhelming and perhaps somewhat surprising conclusion: people prefer Huawei. Now, of course, this is just an unscientific internet poll. Given that it’s posted on Sina Tech, respondents probably skew young, male, and many of them are likely in the tech industry. Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility of some sort of vote tampering either. But even if the numbers aren’t ironclad proof of anything, they certainly suggest a wind change in the mood of China’s techies when it comes to Xiaomi and Huawei.