Huawei Snatches Samsung Mobile Sales Podium After A Decade Of Dominance

Banned but with pride, Huawei has become the sales leader in the smart mobile phone market in the last quarter. The Chinese firm, accused of cyber espionage by the United States Government, has surpassed for the first time Samsung, which in the last nine years had dominated the first place.

The Asian giant has been at the center of a commercial fight for mastering the deployment of 5G networks. In an uncertain year, where global sales have suffered during the Covid-19 health crisis, Huawei has remained firm, which in recent years has broken the traditional duopoly between Samsung and Apple.

Huawei shipped 55.8 million devices, 5% less than the previous year, according to data from the consulting firm Canalys. Second place has gone to Samsung, which sold some 53.7 million units, representing a 30% drop compared to the second quarter of last year. The South Korean giant has saved the period thanks to the boost of its semiconductor division. In the second quarter, it registered a net profit of 5.55 trillion won (4,666 million dollars), 7.33% more year-on-year.

Huawei, still subject to the restrictions of the US government, has achieved a good result in the domestic market. In China, it sells more than 70% of the “smartphones”, while its shipments to international markets fell by 27%. The country has gone from being the epicenter of the pandemic to showing impressive economic muscle.

In fact, it has emerged stronger from the crisis with the reopening of major factories and the continued economic incentive of foreign orders. 

"This is a remarkable result that few people would have predicted a year ago." 

Canalys analyst Ben Stanton explains in a statement.

“If it weren't for Covid-19, this wouldn't have happened. Huawei has made the most of China's economic recovery to revive its phone business. Samsung has a very small presence in China, with less than 1% market share, and its main markets, such as Brazil, India, the United States and Europe, have been devastated by the outbreaks and the containment measures."

he adds.

However, phone shipments to the Chinese market are expected to decline in the third quarter of 2020 after experiencing notable growth this quarter, according to Digitimes Research. Sales of “smartphones” in China increased 104.6% in this second quarter and registered a slight growth of 1.4% compared to the previous year. Huawei, Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Apple were the top five manufacturers on the market.