Huawei’s race to take the smartphone crown from Samsung got a little bit tighter in the fourth quarter of last year as the Chinese company finally overtook Apple to secure the number two spot.
This was in spite of a pretty tough year which has seen everything from its 5G technology to its business practices come under scrutiny.
None of this was enough to stop Huawei’s momentum, however, and it doesn’t look like 2020 is going to do much to slow the company down, either.
Huawei shipped 240 million phones last year compared to Apple’s 200 million and Samsung’s 300 million. As The Verge points out, this is impressive given that the market in the USA is largely closed off to Huawei so we can only imagine how much better the company’s performance would have been if that were option were open to it.
Of course, as many people are pointing out, the third place position for Apple happens to be the industry’s most profitable so that shows you what volume means in this game. Still, the crown for number one is a real thing for investors and people who try to predict where the market is heading and, at this clip, Huawei won’t be at number two for very long.
Then again, Samsung isn’t taking any of this lying down and has, in fact, quite aggressively pushed a slew of new models in new form factors (such as foldable phones) in order to stave off the competition.
What do you think? Is 2020 Huawei’s year? Do you think being the largest smartphone manufacturer matters, or is it more about bragging rights? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below if you like.
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