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Huawei has eclipsed Samsung and Apple to become the largest smartphone maker for Q2 2020. Android Authority has reported that despite bans from the UK and US on its products the company became the largest distributor of smartphones from April to June.
This news probably should not come as a surprise given that we knew Huawei had overtaken Samsung in April and May. This was in no small part to the Chinese company taking advantage of slower sales across the rest of the world during the lockdown.
The question is now, how long can Huawei hold onto the top spot for. With sales speeding back up again as the western world re-opens it may not be long before Samsung stands tall again.
Huawei surpasses Samsung and Apple in Q2
This news comes courtesy of a report conducted by Canalys. This indicated that for the first time in a decade a company other than Samsung or Apple led the quarterly shipments charts.
Huawei has struggled as much as its competitors globally but this has been felt fairly equally across the globe. Where the company has shone in this period is in domestic sales.
China was also one of the first countries to begin to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic. This played a big part in allowing them to lead the way this quarter.
Three-quarters of Huawei shipments come from China
This report has also given us an insight into just how important the Chinese market is for Huawei. It is said that these order now accounts for 72% of their total shipments. This is up from 61% in Q1 and from 50% last year.
Huawei has seen as 27% reduction in international sales during this quarter. This marks the fifth successive quarter in which international sales decreased. These two sets of statistics really do show how important the Chinese market has become to Huawei.
Samsung holds just 1% of the Chinese market and saw an even larger international shipment decrease than Huawei. The Korean company was down 30% from last year’s figures.
It is worth noting that despite Huawei doing the best of all companies it is still experiencing a decline in sales. The company experienced a 27% reduction in shipments from last year as everyone is still trying to recover from the pandemic.
The overall figures stand with Huawei shipping 55.8 million units in Q2 2020 and Samsung not far behind with 53.7 million. Canalys senior analyst Ben Stanton did point out that “if it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened.”
So these figures are very much rooted in the times we live in rather than a reflection of wider industry trends. How this all plays out over the next few months will be fascinating, however.