Huawei has taken the top spot as the world’s biggest smartphone vendor after shipping out 55.8 million devices in the last quarter, beating Samsung’s 53.7 million units.
The report by analytics firm Canalys, termed the change “remarkable”.
The numbers are attributed to the fact that China came out of the Corona virus pandemic first as the rest of the world continued getting hit. The country was able to reopen its borders and its economy before any other country.
Huawei is reported to have haboured long time ambitions of overtaking Samsung in the SmartPhone market and it seems the day finally came.
However, the pandemic affected overall smartphone sales with Huawei experiencing a 5 percent drop from the same period last year. Samsung also experienced a 30 percent drop compared to the same period a year earlier.
Overseas sales for Huawei are estimated to have gone down by 27 percent with the Canalys report noting that 70 percent of Huawei’s sales are actually in China.
“Our business has demonstrated exceptional resilience in these difficult times,” Huawei said in a statement. “Amidst a period of unprecedented global economic slowdown and challenges, we’ve continued to grow and further our leadership position by providing innovative products and experience to consumers.”
“This is a remarkable result that few people would have predicted a year ago,” said Canalys senior analyst Ben Stanton. “If it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened. Huawei has taken full advantage of the Chinese economic recovery to reignite its smartphone business.”
Huawei phones however, are going to be a hard sell in the global market due to the UK and US restrictions blocking the company from accessing Google services. It will be hard for the company to stay on top since global users will not be able to access Google, Gmail, YouTube, Play store and other apps using the normal means.
It is reported that Huawei has responded to this by building its own app store, with around 81,000 apps available for the global market.
“Amidst a period of unprecedented global economic slowdown and challenges, we’ve continued to grow and further our leadership position by providing innovative products and experience to consumers,” a Huawei spokesperson said.
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