China’s Huawei takes smartphone fight to Samsung and Apple as shipments boom

China’s Huawei is set to be the fastest-growing major smartphone vendor this year, analysts said, boosting its drive upmarket to challenge industry giants Samsung and Apple.

The upbeat view came after Huawei, the world’s third-biggest smartphone supplier by volume, on Tuesday said third-quarter global smartphone shipments jumped 63 per cent year-on-year to 27.4 million handsets. Higher-end device sales also grew, a key target for Huawei as it seeks to shed its budget supplier image.

The July-September numbers puts Huawei on course to move 100m smartphones this year, 33 per cent more than in 2014. That would mean it outpacing growth forecast for major rivals such as Apple, Xiaomi and Lenovo, analysts said.

“It’s hard to find a solid contender to Huawei for the top three position (after Samsung and Apple) in the short term,” said Nicole Peng, Asia Pacific director at research firm Canalys. “That’s impressive growth.”

Huawei remains a distant third, with a smartphone market share worth US$7 billion in the second quarter, about one fifth of those of Apple and Samsung, according to Canalys.

Still, analysts said Huawei’s branding shift to higher-margin premium models, as well as strong relations with telecom carriers at home and abroad, are now helping it cement its position in the global top three. Previously, smaller players often swapped that rank in price wars.

Third-quarter deliveries climbed 81 per cent and 98 per cent in China and Europe, respectively, from a year ago. About a third of the quarterly shipments were mid- to high-end models, Huawei said, up from 25 per cent a year earlier.

Huawei doubled its China smartphone revenue in the first half of this year, defying a slowdown in the world’s biggest handset market that is enveloping rivals Xiaomi and Samsung.

Despite the strong growth in both Europe and China, analysts said Huawei still needs to win over consumers in the United States – where its market penetration remains low – if it is to become a serious rival to Samsung and Apple as a truly global smartphone brand.

After its products were once labelled a national security risk in a US Congressional report, which said Beijing could use Huawei equipment for spying, the firm has this year rolled out new phones and wearable devices in a bid to attract new buyers. The company declined to say how many smartphones it has sold in the US.

“It’s very interesting to see whether they will do well in the US (market),” said Nomura analyst Leping Huang. “It still has some room to grow.”

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