You have probably seen the headlines all over plastering the success of Huawei as International Data Corporation (IDC) released quarterly results that showed Huawei pulling ahead of Apple for the first time ever thanks to the 54.2 million smartphones that the company sold between April and June of 2018.
Apple has proven to the world over again that people love expensive phones, seeing how prosperous the iPhone X has been and it seems Huawei finally got the hint and went in that direction. In March, Huawei announced the P20 series that comprised of the $300 mid-range P20 Lite to the $800 flagship P20 Pro that debut with a triple lens setup, a first in the smartphone industry.
This series saw the company hit 60 million sales volume in just three months after launch. “We see our success with the Huawei P20 Series demonstrate that we understand our markets, and show our commitment to innovation and R&D. We see our success with the Huawei P20 Series as encouragement to drive us to continue to excel. Expect to see more from us before the year closes out,” said Kevin Ho, President of the Handsets Product Line, Huawei back in June.
At that time, Huawei projected that they would sell about 200 million phones by the end of 2018.
It’s Not US, It’s China
Earlier this year, Huawei had plans to enter the US market, the world’s third-largest smartphone market, which would mean serious business for the company. Unfortunately, these plans were thwarted by the US government due to “security concerns”. Despite this major loss, Huawei has made major strides in China, where it commands 27% of the smartphone market.
Increased sales in China and India, the other two large smartphone markets are what have propelled Huawei to beat Apple in the last quarter. The news here, however, isn’t just about beating Apple but also the significant growth that Huawei has seen. Compared to last year, in the same period, Huawei has grown 40%.
We cannot forget to mention that Apple is yet to release a flagship in 2018, meaning we could see the bulls locking horns in the next quarter, a fight that might have an unsuspecting casualty.
