For the first time in forever, Huawei topped Apple in a full-year global smartphone shipments in 2019. According to data from Strategy Analytics, Counterpoint Research, and Canalys, the Chinese giant is just second to Samsung.
Accordingly, Apple had the most shipments only in Q4. Meanwhile, accumulatively, Samsung remains the king of the hill. The unexpected outcome, however, was Huawei’s sterling performance despite the controversies.
In the year, Huawei managed to ship a total of 240.6 million devices, while Apple shipped no more than roughly 200 million. Actually, the competition between both companies have been going tight for several years, such as in 2017.
That said, both manufacturers were still far from Samsung. Accordingly, Samsung performed excellently by shipping nearly 300 million smartphones worldwide throughout the year.
Following the top three, other Chinese giants Xiaomi and OPPO ranked fourth and fifth respectively. Alongside Huawei, both Chinese smartphone manufacturers also encountered a hard time expanding their businesses, particularly in western markets.
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How Huawei Finally Defeated Apple
The reports surely surprised many analysts as Huawei experienced a difficult year, thanks to the ban. Due to formidable US-China trade war, Huawei was unable to purchase Google Android and other services for months, let alone expanding its coverage to western countries.
Considering the situation, Huawei mostly relied on its home country sales. Given the restriction, the company’s attempt to challenge Samsung for the first spot failed miserably.
“Huawei’s performance in the Chinese market remains strong. However, although as a first-tier smartphone manufacturer working hard to expand business in the Western European market, the company has encountered the largest setback,” said Melissa Chau, deputy director of research on the quarterly follow-up report of the global smartphone market at IDC.
Furthermore, Huawei might still continue to undergo harsh times this 2020. Aside from the continuing US-China trade war, coronavirus issues have raised fear against China’s shipping services. Among the difficulties, fears that the virus might transmit from shipments cloud the business.
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