Huawei, struggling with US sanctions, surpassed Samsung to become number one in global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of calendar year 2020, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.

An 11 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in China helped Huawei emerge as the top seller, while its shipments fell only by 3 per cent globally.

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“Huawei was able to attain this feat due to a unique market scenario created because of Covid-19. China, Huawei’s largest market, is now recovering from the pandemic compared to other markets such as Europe, LATAM and North America,” Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, said.

“Smartphone shipments in China declined 17 per cent YoY, a more modest decline than the rest of the world that declined 28 per cent. Huawei continued its push in China, benefiting from the recovery. It now holds almost half (47 per cent) the market in China, and this alone contributes to 71 per cent of Huawei’s shipments compared to 62 per cent a year ago,” he said.

However, in markets outside China, Huawei’s shipments fell 29 per cent. Huawei did well in some Eastern European markets such as Russia and Ukraine.

Other brands

While Huawei shipped 54.8 million units during the quarter, Samsung came in second with a shipment of 54.2 million units, followed by Apple (37.5 million units) and Xiaomi (54.8 million units).

Samsung declined 29 per cent as its core markets including LATAM, India, the US and Europe were struggling from the effects of the pandemic and lockdowns. realme grew 11 per cent in the quarter as several markets in Europe and India recovered in June, and was the fastest-growing brand in the quarter.

Apple iPhone shipments grew 3 per cent and revenues grew 2 per cent. Xiaomi fell 18 per cent during the quarter, while it continued to lead in the Indian smartphone market.

5G smartphones

“5G smartphone shipments continued their growth streak globally; growing more than 43 per cent sequentially for the quarter. The shipment penetration of 5G smartphones increased to over 11 per cent of all smartphones in Q2 2020 from 7 per cent last quarter. This was driven by growth in China where 5G is being pushed by attractive 5G plans from the operators and the availability of mid-tier 5G smartphones from several brands,” Abhilash Kumar, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said.

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