Huawei Ranks Third in Global Smartphone Market
Ever since I got a Huawei Ascend P6 and a lower-end Ascend Y320 (brand-new, less than $50) and a Huawei USB modem at a local store sale, I was infinitely stunned at why the Chinese manufacturer is still not showing up on the global market pie. Its smartphones may not be as Android-latest as the Nexus, or as high-end as the Samsung, but they sport a surprisingly hardcore-lasting battery, decent expandable storage and camera, and average functionality ample for someone who does gaming on a different larger-screen device. Overall, I was very pleased and chose to postpone a Nexus purchase until the next Android OS version is released and ironed out, so that I can compare and choose.
Last week, my rhetoric questions were answered in a market share report from IDC that circulated online, with every website musing on how on earth this could have happened. The Chinese manufacturer may not be the household name in the spoiled U.S., but other Americas as much as the rest of the world where market saturation is not as high are appreciating the affordability - functionality ratio offered by Huawei.
And now, it ranks third in global smartphone sales, with the world's 6% smartphone market share. The other two leaders are the usual Samsung, with its 30%, and Apple, with 16%. After Huawei, the fourth position belongs to LG, with 4.9%, and the fifth to Lenovo, with 4.6%.
Image source: Android Authority
Of course, 6% does not seem an overwhelming figure, and not too far from LG or Lenovo, but considering the fact that Huawei beat Nokia, Sony or the much-adored HTC, we might be looking at a new market tendency here, and a new serious player, the tiptoeing Chinese tiger. Huawei's smartphone division reports 19% revenue within the company for the first half of 2014. Moreover, Wall Street Journal reports Huawei sold 30% more consumer electronics and smartphones than last year. Samsung, on the other hand, seems to be struggling and is expected to reveal a poor report for Q2 this year.
Economists and market analysts have been scaring the manufacturers with the long-known folklore named 'market saturation,' which is true for the United States, but that's far from being the entire world, and taking into account that many Eastern Europeans bought their first smartphones last Christmas, even Europe seems far from saturation, not to mention Russia, China, Southern and Central America, India and all of Africa. There is a big world out there, less arrogant and hungry for affordable technology. This is where Huawei comes in. According to the company's head of consumer business group, Richard Yu, Huawei is showing the most impressive growth in sales in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. The consumer business group already reached 50% of its year's profit goal by June 30th.
Moreover, the company's focus on the mid-range and high-end Ascend P7 and Ascend Mate 2 seems to contribute even more to the overall success, and even though the official report for the company is yet to be released, it would be safe to assume the Chinese manufacturer is doing quite well, indeed.
Sources: Android Authority, Android Headlines, CNBC, Market Watch.
