Huawei has proved its global dominance this time, despite many sanctions. The Chinese firm has surpassed Apple and has become the world’s second-largest smartphone maker in 2019. However, Samsung has successfully retained its top slot yet again. This report has been published by two market research firms Canalys and Counterpoint Research. The report says that the volume of smartphone shipments has seen a 1 percent decline across the industry. Nonetheless, Huawei has been able to mark significant growth within Chinese borders despite heavy trade restrictions in place. Reports published by the two research firms have stated that Huawei has witnessed a whopping 17 percent overall annual growth, which has made the company number 2 smartphone vendor in the world.
Samsung has reported 20 percent annual growth in 2019, while Apple has shown 13 percent annual growth. The credit for Huawei’s success goes to its home country China, where the company has made almost 40 percent of the market. China accounts for 60 percent of Huawei’s total shipments. These sales figures consist of Huawei’s sub-brand Honor, which is an affordable line of the company. However, Apple had recorded the highest sales figures in the fourth quarter of 2019. The success of the iPhone 11 played a big role in the highest sales period. The tech giant was the top smartphone vendor in that quarter for the first time in two years. Despite this, Apple saw a 1 percent slump in global sales in 2019 as compared to 2018.
Despite securing no. 2 rank globally, Huawei’s future is still uncertain. The company can no longer do business with US companies due to Trump’s Administration’s Huawei Export ban. The Chinese firm has also banned US components out of its hardware supply line in retaliation. Huawei Export ban has thrown Huawei in a kind of isolation, which means Huawei’s handset does not have access to Gmail, Google, YouTube, Google Assistant, Google maps and several apps on the play store. It has limited the appeal of Huawei phones in the global marketplace. The other worrying part is the recent Coronavirus outbreak in China, which might affect many production plants and supply of Huawei products. Well, it is still unclear whether big players will be affected by the ongoing medical emergency in China or not.
