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.
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