Huawei have set their sights on replacing Samsung as the world’s top smartphone maker by late next year, just days after data showed it surpassed Apple for the number-two spot despite being essentially barred from the key US market.
The chief of Huawei’s consumer division, Richard Yu, made the comment at the release of business results for the first half of 2018, during which unlisted Huawei said it shipped more than 95 million smartphones, an increase of about 30 percent.
“It’s no question that we become the number two next year. In Q4 next year it’s possible we become number one,” Yu said in Shenzhen, the southern Chinese city where Huawei is based.
Huawei climbed up to second spot, overtaking Apple in a tightening global smartphone market during the second quarter, according to tech-industry trackers International Data Corporation (IDC).
Samsung remained on top in April-June, shipping 71.5 million handsets for a 20.9 percent market share, IDC said.
But Huawei sold 54.2 million phones for a 15.8 percent market share, followed by Apple’s 41.3 million iPhones that gave it 12.1 percent of the market.
It was the first time since early 2010 that Apple was not in the top two.
Huawei is essentially blocked from selling phones in the United States on security grounds owing to suspicions of the company’s links to the Chinese government. However, Huawei has long disputed any such links.
Frozen out of the US phone market, Huawei has made inroads worldwide largely by shipping high volumes of its cheaper handsets in Europe, Africa and Asia.
