Huawei Now the Top Smartphone Seller in the World

Huawei has overtaken Samsung to become the world’s biggest smartphone seller, as its home market in China emerged from the coronavirus pandemic better off than other economies.

Analysts at Canalys said Thursday that Huawei shipped 55.8 million devices in the second quarter of 2020.

While the figure was down five per cent compared with a year ago, it was a smaller decline than rival Samsung, which saw smartphone sales slide 30 per cent to 53.7 million.

Huawei still faces US government sanctions restricting its international business, but it has come to dominate its domestic Chinese market, said Canalys, which estimated that the company’s shipments in China rose eight per cent in the April-June period. Mainland China now accounts for 70 per cent of Huawei’s total smartphone sales, it said.

“If it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened,” Senior Analyst Ben Stanton said. “Huawei has taken full advantage of the Chinese economic recovery to reignite its smartphone business.”

He noted that Samsung has a tiny market share in China, while the South Korean company’s core markets, including the US, Europe, Brazil and India, have been ravaged by virus outbreaks and lockdowns.