Huawei may feel beleaguered due to developments elsewhere.
But as a smartphone maker, it has managed to weather the various crisis and has reportedly replaced Samsung as the world's top smartphone maker from April through June.
Due to Covid-19 and the resultant lockdown across countries, shipments of Samsung's smartphones are expected to drop about 30 percent from April through June. On the other hand, Huawei's shipments do not seem to have suffered that much drop.
From April through June, Huawei shipments stood at 55 million while Samsung's was 51 million, which means Huawei may for the first time be crowned No 1 in smartphone shipments in a quarter, according to reports in Chinese media.
Momentum from April
It may be recalled that Huawei lead the field in April this year. Apparently, Huawei seems to have carried that momentum into the next months also.
As per a report in Gizmochina, "in the month of May, which saw 81.97 million shipments, Huawei had a market share of 19.7 percent while Samsung was just behind it with a market share of 19.6 percent."
In comparison, back in April, the Chinese brand had a market share of 21.4 percent while Samsung had a 19.1 percent market share.
Huawei's success lies in China
While Samsung has been hamstrung by the global slowdown in the offtake of smartphones, it can still take heart from the fact that Huawei has outstripped it only because of its dominance of its home turf, China.
Samsung’s market share of smartphones in mainland China is less than 1%, and Huawei’s market share is 60%. It is reported that China restarted the economy earlier than Europe and the United States, which has caused a difference in sales between the two companies.
China is the world's largest smartphone market. Samsung's limited presence in China has considerably harmed its business.
Hard days ahead for Huawei
Huawei will also be hardpressed to maintain its current status. Huawei is facing increasing pressure from both the US and the UK, and Huawei is facing lack of access to major mainstream apps. It cannot include Google app store and Google services on its phones.
Huawei has hinted that it will enrich its own apps, but customers already accustomed to using Google apps are migrating to other brands
Also, Samsung and Huawei are reportedly in talks to hammer out a deal whereby the former would fabricate advanced chips for the latter's 5G equipment, and Huawei would, in a return of favour, give up a good part of its smartphone market share.
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